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KING RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS 
SEVEN QUEENS 




The Ceremonious Entry of the " Lady of the Crest " Saumur 
Tournament 1446 

From "Le Livre des Tournois " Painted by King Rene 



KING RENE D'ANJOU 

AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 



BY 

EDGGUMBE STALEY 

AUTHOR OF 
LORDS AND LADIES OF THE ITALIAN LAKES," "GUILDS OF FLORENCE," "FAIR WOMEN OF 
FLORENCE," "TRAGEDIES OF THE MEDICI," " DOGARESSAS OF VENICE," 
"HEROINES OF GENOA AND THE RIVIERAS," ETC. 



WITH COLOURED FRONTISPIECE AND THIRTY-FIVE 
OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS 



"fides vitat servata" 

King Rene's Motto 



NEW YORK 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

153 FIFTH AVENUE 
1912 



, . -\\;-- 



C\ 






E>« 






TO 

MY BROTHER VERNON 

AND 

HIS WIFE ETHEL 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTORY — KING RENE 

PAOE.9 

King Rene's titles — His character — A beau-ideal Prince — His occupations 
— His work as an artist — Visits to Italy — Scrivani — ' ' The Burning 
Bush" — "Souls in Purgatory" — "La Divina Commedia " — "St. 
Madeleine preaching " — " Preces Prse " — " Pas d'Armes " — " Livres 
des Heures " — Rene's literary work— " Regnault et Jehanneton" — 
"Mortifiement de Vaine Plaisance " — "La Conquete de la Doulce 
Mercy " — " L' Abuze en Court " — " Le Tracte des Tournois " — Charles 
d'Anjou-Orleans — Dance songs— Letters — Collections, books, curios, 
etc. — Work as a craftsman — Orders and Guilds — Agricultural tastes — 
The rose de Provence — Workshops — " Les Comptes de Roy Rene" — La 
Cheminee du Roy — Intercourse with his people — A troubadour King 
— Relics — A famous winecup - 17 — 29 

CHAPTER II 

YOLANDA D'ARRAGONA — I. 

A Queen in labour — Natural children — Princess Juanita — "La Gaya 
Ciencia " — Troubadours — Iolande de Flandres — Bar-le-Duc — High- 
waymen — Recruits — Fetes galants — Court of Love — Juan I., King of 
Aragon — A beauteous damsel — L'Academie des Jeux Floraux — A royal 
Mainteneuse — Nails in their heads ! — " Plucking the turkey " ! " Quite 
as good as you!" — "A gay woman" — A royal baptism — Princess 
Yolanda — The Salic Law — A bridegroom-elect — Mauled by a wolf — A 
silver throne — "The Queen!" — Bullfights — A royal trousseau — A 
brilliant cavalcade — Louis II. d'Aujou — Attractive girls — Castle of 
Montpellier — A royal progress — " The Loves of Louis and Yolanda " — 
A King-suitor in disguise — An ardent kiss — A royal marriage — Beauti- 
ful Arlesennes — " A lovely creature !" — A splendid dowry — Gardens 
at Tarascon — Legend of St. Martha — A deadly dragon — State entry 
into Angers — The castle and its contents — "Mysteries" — Inartistic 
fare — Feastings — Yolanda Lieutenant- General of Anjou — English 
invasion — Rabbit with a medallion — Isabeau de Baviere — A wasp-like 
waist — Jewels — Catherine de Valois — Yolanda's first-born — The ' ' Black 
Death " — Queen-Duchess Marie — Princess Marie — Taxes and tax- 
gatherers — Rene d 'Anjou born— St. Renatus — The Queen's enterprise 
— Cutting off his tail ! — Claimants for a throne — A piteous little Prince 
— A royal betrothal — Henry V. of England — Louis II. in Italy — His 
death- ........ 30—66 

vii 



viii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER III 

YOLANDA d'ARRAGONA— II. 

PAGES 

Royal mourning — Cardinal Louis de Bar — Yolande a constitutional 
Sovereign — The Duke of Burgundy — Matrimonial alliances — Tourna- 
ments—Princess Margherita di Savoia — Louis III. fights for the crown 
of Naples — Queen Giovanna II. — Princess Isabelle de Lorraine — A 
stick for a bad woman ! — Rene takes up arms — A vassal — Ordre de 
la Fidelite — The Van Eycks — Treasures — Gardens at Bar-le-Duc — 
Floral games— Fortune is a woman ! — Battle of Bauge — Birth of 
Louis XI. of France — Jeanne d'Arc — A panel of matrons — Slanders — 
Queen Yolande's daring — Charles VII. inert — Rene Duke of Barrois 
— A debauche Prince — A young widow — Preux chevaliers — A love- 
match — Princess Catherine de Champagne burnt to death — Rene and 
Isabelle married — Rene Duke of Lorraine — Battle of Bulgneville — A 
royal prisoner — A foisted child — A beretta crown — Prince Jean — Duke 
of Calabria — Princess Marie de Bourbon — Agnes Sorel, the most lovely 
girl in France — Queen Yolande in private life — The Castle of Saumur 
— Queen Yolande's death— Her character — No trace of her grave — 
Theophaine la Magine — A quaint epitaph — The stained-glass windows 
of Le Mans Cathedral — " A good mother and a great Queen " - 67 — 93 

CHAPTER IV 

ISABELLE DE LORRAINE 

Child marriages — "The Pride of Lorraine" — A mailed fist — Duchess's 
bare feet — Satin skin — Cardinal matchmaker — Ten considerations — 
Woman's wit supreme — A charming boy — Jean "sans Peur " — 
" Polluyon " — A Sovereign's oath — "Noel ! Noel !" — First free Parlia- 
ment in France — Veterans — Antoine de Vaudemont — " You may go !" 
— Bulgneville — Rene a prisoner — Insecurity of life — The Duke's terms 
— Two boy hostages— La Tour de Bar — Rene's parole — Money the crux — 
Rene at Naples — The Golden Rose — A royal artist — Music and song — 
Duchess Margaret dies — " Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi !" — The sword 
of Lancelot — A very young widow— Isabelle leads an army — Alfonso 
in check — King Rene free — Women of Genoa — On the throne — A 
troubled land— " Cette vraie Amazone !" — Fortune did not smile — 
"Too much blood" — A dastardly outrage — Peace — Princess Mar- 
guerite betrothed — Black armour — Jehanne de Laval — Black buffaloes 
— Grey hair — Splendid tournments — Ordre du Croissant — Double 
nuptials — Henry VI. of England — Ferri carries off Yolande — Cupid's 
"Lists" — The spectre of war — Death of Queen Isabelle — "My heart 
has lost its love !" — " Amour et Foy " - 94 — 142 

CHAPTER V 

JEANNE D'ARC — " LA PUCELLE " 

" Give me Rene !"— Village of Domremy— Village feuds — A busy mother — 
A weird accouchement — Le Bois Chenus — Voices — St. Michael — Mad 
Jehanne — A coarse kirtle — She touched the hilt — Duke Charles's 
strange visitors — A dash around the courtyard — ' ' Vive la nostre 
Royne !" — A pilgrimage march — Priests and minstrels — A famous 
sword — Jeanne's oriflamme — A dissolute Court — Charles VI. at Chinon 
— A winning hazard — Certain secrets — Jeanne's double ordeal — Bishops 
and matrons — "LaPucelle" so named by Queen Yolande— Filles de 



CONTENTS ix 

PAGES 

Joie — White armour — An ultimatum— Divided counsels — The siege of 
Orleans — " The Maid" wounded — En route to Reims — The " Sacre " 
— Jeanne's modesty — Her apotheosis — "Sire, I bid you farewell" — 
Rene the hero — Jeanne the heroine — To expel the hated English — The 
fall of Paris — "The Maid" a prisoner — Deserted by everyone — A 
mock trial — A human wreck — Burnt to death — A maiden's heart and 
a white dove — "Ma Royne est mort !" Rene's lament — Charles's 
remorse — The memory of Jeanne d'Are ... - 143 — 173 



CHAPTER VI 

MARIE d'ANJOU 

The little Queen of Bourges" — A master-stroke — A lovely bride, an ill- 
looking groom — An evil mother's influence — Three fair witches — 
Yolande's prestige — Woman's power in France — Marie v. Agnes — 
Unhappy Charles VI. — The Chatelaine de Courrages — A gallows and a 
flagellation — Marriage of Charles and Marie — Impecuniosity — Never 
touched her below the chin ! — Jacques Cceur's loyal succour — Terrible 
disasters — A treacherous deed — Isabeau's rage — Queen Marie's speech 
— A lovely bevy of Maids of Honour — Outrageous fashions — Correcte's 
crusade — "A bas les hennins !" — Scudding stones — Plain chapelles — 
A faint-hearted King — Queen Marie's "I will" — Marie d'Anjou and 
Jeanne d'Arc — No place for the Queen ! — Agnes Sorel, "la Belle des 
Belles " — Serge chemises — " The plaything of the most valiant King ?" 
— Agnes's four daughters — A loving son — Boxed her ears ! — Agnes's 
heart in gold — "Males femmes" — "Everything for France !" — Disas- 
ters and delirium — Marie in shade and shine — A pillion — Poor little 
Princess Margaret ! — " A curse on life !" — A dissolute Prince — Slander 
and hypocrisy — The Bastard of Orleans — A tryst disturbed — The 
obscene Fete des Fous — A royal repast — Tours for delicacies — A 
famous pack of cards — The Queen as a business woman — Cocks and 
hens — Marie dies at Poitiers — "A good and devout woman " - 174 — 215 



CHAPTER VII 

GIOVANNA II. OF NAPLES 

" Like Queen Giovanna !" — Anjou succession in Naples — A lover suffocated 
— King Ladislaus — Many suitors — Hard to please — A rare quality — 
Marriage ring torn off — Louis d'Anjou's advance — A poor old Queen — 
Butterfly courtesans — A champion of physical beauty — A wily woman 
— The cord of St. Francis — A baseborn athlete — The chief of the pages 
— The Queen's master — Vampire kisses — Louis v. Alfonso — A romantic 
story — Fair Leonora — Not a tool of the Queen — Fierce rivals — Pulled 
the Queen's hands — Giovanna in her lover's arms— Flashing eyes — 
Beneath the lips — Superb entertainments — Giovanna discovers the 
liaison — Rene bravest of the brave — Treason — Duchess Covella Ruffo 
and her jewelled poniard — Rene at Naples — "II galantuomo Re " — 
The Jews — Alfonso defeated and a prisoner — Belated pious deeds — 
Giovanna as the Virgin Mary! — An embassy from Naples — Many 
claimants for the throne — Isabelle a virago Queen — A macaroni basket 
— " I'll not fight with a woman !" — Colossal orgies — A Spartan mother 
Decisive battle of Troia — End of the Angevine dynasty — Jean, Duke 
of Calabria, raises the flag in vain .... 216 — 252 



x CONTENTS 

CHAPTER VIII 

MAKCiUEKITE D'ANJOU 

PAGES 

"The loveliest Princess in Christendom" — A storm-rocked cradle — A 
child's kiss — Troubadours and glee-maidens — An eligible suitor — The 
love of all the boys — Neglected education — A delighted grandmother — 
Marriage tangles — Philippe, Count de Nevers, repudiated — Henry VI. 
of England looking for a Queen — The "Three Graces of Armagnac" — 
Cardinal Beaufort charmed with Marguerite — An unpainted face — 
"Oh fie! oh fie!" — An autograph letter — Splendid nuptials — La 
Confrererie de la Passion — Too poor to buy her own wedding dress — A 
peachy blush — Fine fashions — Gold garter chains — Sumptuous hair- 
dressing — A "Marguerite" flower-holder — A sorrowful parting — A 
truly royal train — The entente cordiale — The Queen short of ready cash 
— A stormy passage — Chicken-pox ? — The King's ring — A famous tire- 
woman — Extraordinary presents — Pageants — Queen Margaret crowned 
— "La Frangaise" — The Queen's strong character — The Duke of 
York nonplussed — Pious foundations — The King's seizure — She had to 
play the man ! — The Prince of Wales — York's dastardly insinuations 
— A costly churching-robe — Civil war begins — Margaret leads the 
Lancastrians in person — Success and failure— York's grey gory head — 
"Love Lady- Day " — Lord Grey de Ruthen's treason — King Henry a 
prisoner in the Tower — " Fie on thee, thou traitor !" — The Queen in 
Scotland — King Louis's double game — A shipwreck — A common robette 
— Galant Sir Pierre de Breze — " Une Merrie Mol !" — The kiss of 
etiquette — Thorns — All the poets sing of Margaret— All is lost ! — 
Margaret at home again — Earl of Warwick's loyalty — A diplomatic 
marriage — The sea flouts Margaret — Perjured Lord Wenlock — A 
treacherous blow — The Prince murdered — "Bloody Edward" — The 
" she-wolf "—Hands tied behind her back — King Henry killed — The 
Queen in a dungeon — Rene's pathetic letter — The great heroine of the 
Wars of the Roses — Repose at Reculee— A lioness at bay — " The grim 
grey wolf of Anjou " — A sad and lonely death - - - 253 — 305 

CHAPTER IX 

JEHANNE DE LAVAL 



Roses — - " December " and "May" — A famous House— The Queen of 
Beauty — All in love with Jehanne — The champion's crest — A tourna- 
ment banquet — The Grand Prix — Rene struck with Jehanne — His 
Genoese innamorate — "Devils at home " — A second marriage desirable 
— The King bemoans Isabelle — No festivities — A moral allegory — 
A new course of life — Costly offerings—" Les Tards-Venus " — Court of 
Love at Les Baux — " La Passe Rose " — A coffin full of golden hair — 
Ruralizing royalty — Jehanne, nymph of the bosquets — "Pastorals" 
— " Regnault et Jehanneton " — All fall in love, and all fall out ! — An 
allegory of chivalry — Cuer reads the strange inscription— Louis XL's 
outrageous behaviour — " L'Abuze" en Court " — Rene the victim — The 
Pageant of the Pheasant — An elysium of love — The Queen's virtues — 
Her portrait — Rene's school of architects — St. Bernardin, the King's 
confessor — Rene's heart — Pious Sovereigns — Relics — The crown of 
Catalonia — Queen Jehanne and Queen Margaret — Church spectacles — 
Magnificent hospitality — ■ Demoiselle Odille — La Petite Helene — 
Patroness of crafts — " The Golden Rose " — Rene's green old age — ' Le 
bon Roy est rnort !" — Marie de la Ohapelle's children — Queen Jehanne 
retires to Beaufort — A studious widow — "I have no other role to 
play !" — " La Reine " in an iron cage — The Queen's sweet death — 
Her will — Her monument and Rene's — " Priez pour la bonne 
Jehanne" - .... 306—356 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



FACING 
PAGE 



Ceremonious Entry of the "Lady of the Crest" 

Frontispiece 

Queen Yolanda d'Arragona - - 30 

Entry of a Queen into her Capital - - 40 

Favourite Eecreations - - - - - 50 

A Mystery ------- 60 

King Louis II. of Sicily- An jou - 68 

Communion of a Knight - - - - -74 

A Royal Repast - - - - - - 80 

Street Scene in Aix - - - - 86 

Queen Isabelle de Lorraine - - - 94 

King Rene (circa 1440) ... . 106 

Royal Patronesses and Crafts - - - - 118 

" Cozur " and " the Island of Love" - - - 130 

"The White Queen" — Jeanne d'Arc - - - 144 

Expulsion of Gay Women - - - 152 

Siege of Orleans - - - - - - 160 

Sacre of Charles VII. - - - - - 168 

Queen Marie d' An jou - - - - - 174 

A Besieged Castle - - - - - - 184 

King Rene: and his Court - - '- - - 194 

xi 



xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



FACING 
PAGE 



Queens, Judges, and Knights - - 204 

Queen Giovanna II. da Napoli - - 216 

Homage of a Vassal - - - - - 226 

King and Queen in Stone - - 236 

King Rene and Guarini da Verona - - - 246 

Queen Marguerite d'Anjou - - - 254 

Before the "Lists"- ... . 268 

King Rene in his Study - - - - - 280 

Agricultural Pursuits - - - - 292 

Queen Jehanne de Laval ----- 306 

St. Madeleine preaching ----- 320 
"The Burning Bush" - - -334 

King Rene (circa 1470) - - - 348 



PREFACE 

King Rene d'Anjou and his Seven Queens — yes, 
I stand by ray title, and offer no apology to the 
captious and the curious. 

Rene was the most remarkable personality in the 
French Renaissance. How many English readers of 
the romance of history, I wouder, know anything about 
him but his name ? Of his " seven Queens," two only 
are at all familiar to the English public, — Marguerite 
d'Anjou and Jeanne d'Arc, — and their stories as 
commonly told are unconvincing. The other five are 
not known even by name to the majority of people ; 
therefore I have immense pleasure in introducing 
them to any clientele: Yolanda d'Arragona, Isabelle 
de Lorraine, Jehanne de Laval, Giovanna II. da 
Napoli, Jeanne d'Arc and Marguerite d'Anjou. 
This galaxy of Queens, fair and frail, will appeal as 
something entirely new in sentimental biography 
to those in search of novelty. 

Turgid facts of history and dryasdust statistics of 
the past are, of course, within everybody's ken, or 
they are supposed to be — this is an age of snobbery ! 
Piquant stories of the persons and foibles of famous 
men and women are my measure, and such you will 
have in plenty in my narratives. To get at my facts 

xiii 



xiv PREFACE 

and fictions I have dug deep into the records of Court 
chroniclers, and I think I have blended very success- 
fully the spirit of the troubadours and the spirit of 
the age of chivalry. At the end of the volume I 
have added a Bibliography, for the benefit of 
sententious students, and my Index is as full as possible, 
to assist the casual reader. 

The illustrations which adorn my pages have 
been gathered from many sources. I think they 
will greatly assist the appreciation of my work. With 
respect to portraits of my " Queens," there are no 
extant likenesses of Yolanda and Jeanne : for the 
latter I have chosen to reproduce the historical 
imaginative fresco of M. Lepenveu, at the Pantheon 
in Paris : for the former the stained-glass window effigy 
at Le Mans Cathedral must do duty. Queen Isabelle 
is an enlargement of a miniature by Rene ; Queen 
Marie is after a French picture of the School of 
Jean Focquet, now at the National Gallery, London, 
but wrongly entitled. Queen Giovanna II. is from 
an altar-piece in the National Museum at Naples. 
Queen Marguerite is from a miniature by her father, — 
her portraits in England are eminently unsatisfactory 
and non-contemporary, — Queen Jehanne is from the 
right wing of the Aix triptych, by Nicholas Froment. 

There is, I think, nothing more to add to my preface, 
so I leave " King Rene and his Seven Queens " tete-a- 
tSte with my discerning public. If they are found to 
be entertaining company I am repaid. 

EDGCUMBE STALEY. 



CHRONOLOGY 



1399. Marriage of Louis II. d'Anjou and Yolanda d'Arragona. 

1408. Birth of Kene d'Anjou. 

1411. Giovanna II. succeeds to throne of Naples. 

1417. Kene* adopted by Cardinal de Bar. 

1420. Marriage of Rene and Isabelle de Lorraine. 

1422. Marie d'Anjou marries Charles VII. 

1424. Rene, Duke of Barrois. 

1429. Jeanne d'Arc and Rene" at Siege of Orleans. 

1431. Rene, Duke of Lorraine ; prisoner at Bulgneville. 

1433. Rene's campaign in Italy. 

1434. Rene, King of Sicily, etc. 

1435. Giovanna II. dies; Rene, King of Naples. 
1437. Rene" released finally from Tour de Bar. 

1441. Rene" retires from Italy. 

1442. Queen Yolanda dies. 

1445. Marriage of Marguerite d'Anjou and Henry VI. 

1448. Order of the Croissant established. 

1453. Queen Isabelle dies. 

1455. Marriage of Rene and Jehanne de Laval. 

1463. Queen Marie dies. 

1465. Rene" proclaimed King of Catalonia. 

1470. Jean, Duke of Calabria, King of Catalonia, dies. 

1473. Rene retires from Anjou, which is seized by Louis XL 

1480. Rene dies. 

1482. Queen Marguerite dies. 

1498. Queen Jehanne dies. 



xv 



KING RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS 
SEVEN QUEENS 



CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTORY 

" Rene, King of Jerusalem, the Two Sicilies, Aragon, 
Valencia, Majorca, Sardinia and Corsica ; Duke of 
Anjou, Barrois, and Lorraine ; Count of Provence, 
Forcalquier and Piemont," so runs the preamble of 
his Will. To these titles he might have added 
Prince of Gerona, Duke of Calabria, Lord of Genoa, 
Count of Guise, Maine, Chailly, and Longjumeau, 
and Marquis of Pont-a-Mousson ! 

He was famous as a Sovereign, a soldier, a legis- 
lator, a traveller, a linguist, a scholar, a poet, a 
musician, a craftsman, a painter, an architect, a 
sculptor, a collector, a sportsman, an agriculturist, and 
incidentally a chivalrous lover. About such a many- 
sided character there is much to tell and much to 
learn. His times were spacious ; the clouds of Medi- 
evalism had rolled away, and the Sun of Progress illu- 
minated the heyday of the Renaissance ; art and craft 
had come into their own. Venus disarmed Mars, Diana 
entranced Apollo, and Minerva restrained Mercury, 
and all the hierarchy of heaven was captive to the 

17 



18 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

Liberal Arts. Rene d'Anjou, figuratively, seems to 
have gathered up in his cunning hand the powers of 
all the spiritual intelligences alongwith the life-lines 
of practical manifestations. He has come down to us 
as the beau-ideal Prince of the fifteenth century. 

" A Prince who had great and pre-eminent 
qualities, worthy of a better future. He was a great 
Justicier and an enemy to long despatches. He 
said sometimes, when they presented anything to 
signe, being a-hunting or at the warre, that the Pen 
was a kinde of Armes, which a person should use at 
all times " — so wrote the historian Pierre Mathieu, 
in his "History of Louis XI.," in 1614. He goes 
on to say : " The reign of so good a Prince was 
much lamented, for he intreated his subjects like a 
Pastor and a Father. They say that when his 
Treasurer brought unto him the Royale Taxe, — 
which was sixteen florins for every kindled fire, 
whereof Provence might have about three thousand 
five hundred, — hee enformed himselfe of the aboun- 
dance or barenesse of the season ; and when they 
told him, that a mistrall winde had reigned long, hee 
remitted the moiety and sometimes the whole taxe. 
Hee contented himself with his revenues, and did 
not charge his people with new tributes. Hee spent 
his time in paintings, the which were excellent, as 
they are yet to be seen in the city of Aix. Hee 
was drawing of a partridge when as they brought 
him newes of the loose of the Pealme of Naples, yet 
hee could not draw his hande from the work and the 
pleasure hee took here in. . . . They relate that 
he dranke not wine, and when as the noble men 
of Naples demanded the reasons, he affirmed that 
it had made Titus Livius to lie, who had said that 



INTRODUCTORY 19 

the good wine caused the French to passe the 
Alps. . . . He was perhaps better suited to 
make a quiet State happy than to reduce a rebellious 
one. 

King Rend's career and work as a Sovereign, a 
soldier, a legislator, a traveller, a poet, and a lover, 
are treated in full in the letterpress of this volume. 
His work as an artist, a craftsman, an agriculturist, 
and a collector, is here given under different head- 
ings, as introductory to the expression of his personal 
talents. 

I. Artistic Works of King Rene. 

Rene's first efforts as a designer and painter were 
exhibited upon the walls of his prison-chamber at 
Tour de Bar, near Dijon, 1431-1435. Thence forward 
he decorated the walls and stain-glazed the windows 
of his various castles and palaces — Bar-le-Duc, 
Nancy, Angers, Saumur, Reculee, Tarascon, Mar- 
seilles, and Aix. Every bastide and maison 
inhabited by his Queens and himself was also 
similarly adorned, and many coloured church windows 
were due to his gentle art. Alas that so few 
vestiges of these admirable labours remain ! French 
mobs are proverbial for iconoclastic propensities, and no 
land has suffered more than France from the 
suicidal mania of her sans-culottes. 

To fresco-painting, portraits, and glass-staining, the 
Royal artist added miniatures and penmanship. His 
" style " was formed and developed successively 
under such personal tuition as that of the bi others 
Van Eyck and Maistre Jehannot le Flament. Later 
on Jean Focquet of Tours and Nicholas Froment 
influenced him. A letter is extant of King Rene, 



20 REN£ DANJOU and his seven queens 

addressed in 1448 to Jan Van Eyck, in which he 
asks for two good painters to be sent to Barrois. 

Visits to Rome, Florence, Naples, Milan, and other 
art cities of Italy, very greatly enlarged Rene's 
mStier. Intercourse with Fra Angelico da Fiesole, 
Fra Filippo Lippi, Paolo Ucello, the Delia Robbia, 
and many other Tuscan artists, quickened his 
natural talent and guided his eye and hand. Leon 
Battista Alberti, Francesco Brunellesco, and Cennino 
Cennini, and their works in materia and literature, 
produced great results in the receptive faculties of 
the King-artist. At Naples he came in contact 
with Colantonio del Fiore, Antonio Solario — II 
Zingaro — and Angiolo Franco, and gathered up 
what they taught. 

Besides these immense advantages as a personal 
friend of great ruling Italian families, the Medici, 
the Pazzi, the Tornabuoni, the Visconti, the Sforza, 
the Orsini, and many others, Rene had oppor- 
tunities enjoyed by very few. His own amiable 
individuality and his ample knowledge were the 
highest credentials in the pursuit of art and 
craft. Rene" witnessed the consecration of the 
Duomo of Florence and the completion of the 
guild shrine of Or San Michele, and he was 
enrolled as an honorary member thereof. At 
Florence also he was thrown in contact with world 
famous scrivani — writers and illustrators of manu- 
script. The subsequent excellence of French minia- 
turists was largely due to King Rene's example 
and encouragement. 

Rene's more considerable paintings, which have 
been preserved, are as follows : 

1. The Burning Bush, part of an altar triptych, 



INTRODUCTORY 21 

at the Cathedral of Aix. Projected and begun by 
the King, it was finished by Nicholas Froment, 1475-76, 
and for it the artist received no more than 70 
gulden (see illustration). 

2. Souls in Purgatory, an altar-piece (7 x 5|), 
originally in hospital chapel at the Chartreuse of 
Villeneuve les Avignon. It is really a " Judgment," 
with Christ and saints above the clouds, and twenty- 
four little figures in and out torment. The building 
was destroyed in 1793. 

3. La Divina Commedia, an altar-piece (8 x 6), 
in the church of the Celestins at Avignon in distemper. 
It was due to Rene's vision of his mistress, Dame 
Chapelle, upon the day of her death, which shocked 
him so greatly that he painted this composition to 
remove the painful impression he thus experienced. 

4. Saint Madeleine preaching, now in the 
Hotel Cluny. It was a whimsical conceit connecting 
the story of the sisters of Lazarus with Rene and 
his Queen Jehanne. It is conventional in treatment 
but finished most beautifully (see illustration). 

King Rene's artistic speciality was miniatures. 
He illuminated many manuscripts. 

1. Preces Prce. The Latin " Hours " of King 
Rend, a manuscript of 150 sheets of fine vellum, 
written very beautifully in small lettering, with 
superb capitals in gold and colours. The borders and 
miniatures are exquisitely painted. It is bound in 
red morocco. This precious volume was dedicated 
to Queen Isabelle, whose portrait is painted as a 
frontispiece (see illustration). It was one of the 
King's wedding presents to his second Queen, Jehanne 
de Laval. The value of the Preces Prce is enhanced 
by numerous marginal notes of dates and details 



22 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

written by Rene's hand. At the end by way of 
Finis is a clock-face, upon which is painted " R et J," 
under the words " En Un," all in a circle of gold. This 
treasure is now in the National Library in Paris, and 
there is a copy almost exactly in duplicate in the 
Imperial Library in Vienna. The date is 1454. 

2. Pas d'Armes de la Bergere. A poem of 
Louis de Beauvau, Seigneur de la Roche et Champigny, 
Grand Seneschal of Angers, Ambassador to Pope 
Pius II., and a famous Champion in the " Lists." It is a 
pastoral allegory, and extols the courage and chivalry of 
many famous knights — Ferri de Vaudemont, Philippe 
Lenoncourt, Tanneguy de Chastel, Jean de Cossa, 
Guy de Laval, and others. It was put forth in 1448 
after the celebrated tournaments in Anjou, Lorraine, 
and Provence. King Rene illuminated it with 
portraits and miniature paintings at Tarascon, where 
he and Jehanne de Laval spent so many happy days 
ruralizing in 1457. 

At Aix, in the Library, is a manuscript Livres 
des Heures, dated 145 8 ; at Avignon, in the Church 
of the Cordeliers, is another of the following year ; 
at Poitiers, in the Library, is a " Psalter " ; in the 
Musee de l'Arsenal of Paris, a Breviary (see illustra- 
tion) — all exquisitely written and illuminated by 
the master-hand of the King. 

II. Literary Works of King Rene - . 

The earlier works of the King are sufficiently 
remarkable as exhibiting his serenity in adversity 
and his uprightness as a legislator ; his later poems 
are notable in revealing his chivalry as a knight- 
adventurer, and his tenderness as a dainty troubadour. 



INTRODUCTORY 23 

Rene, whether as Sovereign, knight, or lover, led the 
taste of his age. His personality attracted every- 
body, and his character elevated all in fruitful 
emulation. His utterances and his writings, in spite 
of the freedom of manners and the piquancy of 
speech, were conspicuous for chastity of thought 
and delicacy of expression. Not a single dubious 
word or doubtful reference disfigures his pages : a 
man and King was he without reproach. 

The works which Rend composed as well as 
decorated place him in the forefront of poets. The 
principal are as follows : 

1. Regnault et Jehanneton, or Les Amours de 
Bergier et de la Bergeronne. It is an idyllic 
pastoral. The manuscript occupies seventy sheets of 
fine vellum, written in black and crimson, very care- 
fully and finely. The miniatures and capitals are very 
numerous, and display the greatest skill and taste in 
design and finish. This manuscript was written at 
Tarascon, after Rene and Jehanne's romantic sojourn 
at his bastide on the Durance. 

2. Mortifiement de Vaine Plaisance, or Trade 
entre VAme devote et le Cceur. In manuscript, 
written very carefully in black and scarlet, with many 
exquisitely-painted miniatures and capital letters. 
This " Morality " covers fifty -five sheets of the 
finest vellum. The Royal writer was assisted by 
Jehan Coppre, a priest of Varronsgues. The frontis- 
piece by Rene represents the King, fully robed, 
seated in his studio labouring with his pen and brush 
(see illustration). 

3. La Conquete de la Doulce Mercy, or La 
Conquete par le Cuer d Amour Espris. This is a manu- 
script with 138 sheets of very smooth vellum written 



24 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

in red, black, and purple, with sixty-two miniatures 
and many capitals superbly painted. It is bound in 
red morocco, and is in the National Library in Paris. 
It bears the date 1457. Rene both wrote and illumin- 
ated it shortly before the death of Queen Isabelle. 

4. L'Abuze en Court. A manuscript covering 
fifty-seven sheets of very fine vellum. Where and 
how King Rene got his " skins "we do not know, but 
they are the finest and most perfect of any French 
or Italian manuscripts of the period. The colour and 
grain of the skin are very fine ; only an artist-writer 
could have chosen such splendid folios. This manu- 
script is bound in walnut-wood boards covered with 
crimson velvet and embroidered. It contains fifty lovely 
miniatures and has rich capitals. Rene has in this case 
recorded the exact date of completion — July 12, 1473. 

5. Very superb — perhaps King Rene's chef 
d'ceuvre — is Le Trade des Tournois, a full descrip- 
tion of his splendid tournament at Saumur, with the 
richest possible illustration. It is dedicated to 
Charles d'Anjou, his brother, who died in 1470 ; he 
was Count of Maine and Guise, and Governor of 
Lorraine. The frontispiece and two other illustra- 
tions are reproductions of the Royal artist's designs. 

One of the most charming incidents in Rene's long, 
useful, and moving life was his intercourse with 
Charles d'Anjou, son of the first Duke of Orleans, 
brother of Charles VI. of France. The young Prince 
was made a prisoner at the Battle of Agincourt in 
1415, and remained in captivity in the Tower of 
London for twenty-five years. His constant com- 
plaint was : "I mourn with chagrin that no one 
does anything to release me !" This piteous appeal 
at length gained the heart of Duke Philippe of 



INTRODUCTORY 25 

Burgundy, who effected his deliverance in 1440. 
Between King Rene and Duke Charles there passed, 
through spiritual affinity, a constant succession of 
delightful poetic souvenirs — the prisoner of La 
Tour de Bar and the prisoner of the Tower of 
London — comrades in sorrow, companions in joy ! 
The form these missives took was that of rondeaux, 
or valentines, and in this category nothing could be 
more delicate and sensuous. A very favourite ending 
of the poems was — 

" Aprls, une seule excepter, 
Je vous servirai cette conte, 
Ma douce Valentine gente, 
Puis qu' amour veuilt que on'y contente." * 

Charles d'Anjou died in 1465, greatly lamented by 
his poet-confidant. 

King Rene composed and wrote, and also set to 
music, very many motets and caroles (dance-songs). 
The former are still sung in village churches in 
Provence, and the latter danced at village fetes. 

Rene was famous, too, as a polite letter-writer. 
Between 146 8 and 1474 he despatched thirty-seven 
missives to Pope Sixtus IV. and others, chiefly 
relating to affairs in the kingdom of Catalonia. 

At the Chateau d' Angers, as well as at those of 
Nancy and Aix, King Rene had splendid collections 
of manuscripts and books. Rare works in Hebrew, 
Greek, Arabic, Turkish, and Latin, he collected in the 
several departments of Scripture, Philosophy, History, 
Geography, Natural History, and Physics. Writers 

*" With one only reservation, 
I will send you this narration, 
My gentle, natty Valentine, 
Since your love so well content is mine." 



26 REN£ D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

and students naturally were attracted to such a 
sapient Prince. Three of the former in particular 
attached themselves to his patronage : Pierre de 
Hurion, Jehan de Perin, and Louis de Beauvau ; and 
with them was Rene's chief collaborator — Hervd 
Grellin. 

III. Craftsman's Works of King Rene. 

Rene was a great advocate for the combination and 
co-operation of the arts and crafts. In no sense was 
he a free-trader : his policy was to encourage native 
enterprise and to check destructive intrusion of aliens. 
To consolidate commercial interests and to safeguard 
industries, he established " Orders " or " Guilds " for 
workers. For example, at Tarascon he instituted 
" The Order of the Sturgeon," for fisherfolk, which 
held an annual festival in July, called La Charibande, 
specially in honour of Le Hoy des Gardons — " King 
of Roaches." At Aix the King established "■ The 
Order of the Plough," for agriculturists, and their 
fete-day was the Festival of the Assumption. He 
could hold the coulter with any of his farm labourers, 
and greatly delighted in matches of strength and 
speed. Rene's interest in agriculture and stock- 
rearing did very much to make Anjou and Provence 
fruitful States. He naturalized the sugar-cane, and 
introduced many new trees and plants : the rose de 
Provence ; the CEillet de Poete- —our Sweet William ; 
the mulberry ; and the Muscat grape. 

As patron of crafts, Rene especially encouraged 
workers in tapestry, vestments, costumes and 
tournament decorations, goldsmiths, jewellers, medal- 
ists, armourers, and masters of wood, stone, and 



INTRODUCTORY 27 

metal, with operatives in textiles. In Provence, at 
Aix and Marseilles, he had workshops which he him- 
self superintended, and where such instructors were 
employed as Jehan de Nicholas, Guillaume le 
Pelletier, Juan d'Arragona, Jehan le Gracieux, Luigi 
Rubbotino, Henri Henniquin, and Jehanne Despert. 
These may be names only, but their fame may be 
learnt by the study of useful industries in France. 
The Comptes de Roy Rene, — Rene's business-books, — 
at Angers are full of orders, instructions, payments, 
etc., to work-people of all sorts and kinds. 

At each of King Rene's residences, and more 
especially at Aix, he designed and erected a raised 
architectural loggia, or terrace, which at once 
gained the name of La Clierrmiee du Roy. Here he was 
wont to spend a good deal of his time in the enjoy- 
ment of the fresh air and the contemplation of the 
persons and avocations of his subjects within 
range. Here, too, he gave audience to all sorts 
and conditions of his subjects, passing the time of 
the day merely to many, but with some of them 
entering fully into matters proposed for his considera- 
tion. Craftsmen, tradesmen, and merchants, were 
accustomed to pass that way to expose commodities, 
and exhibit novelties which might tempt the Royal 
patronage. One salient object of this amiable habit 
was that, as he put it, " my children may see their 
father, and take cognizance of my state of health and 
my pursuits." Rene lived and worked among and 
for his people, and none who approached him ever 
went away empty or dissatisfied. Nothing pleased 
him better than a morning salutation or an evening 
serenade by troubadour-jongleurs and other makers of 
music and of fun. Sometimes the municipal author- 



28 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

ities made courteous protests to their liege Lord for 
the creation of crowds and obstruction to the free 
circulation of the traffic. To all such representations 
the King turned a ready ear, but also turned their 
pleas into subjects for good-humoured merriment. 

" You see/' he used to say, " I am something of a 
troubadour myself, and life's serious moods require 
joyous elevation." 

Rene* was great in loving-cups, or, more correctly, 
their contents. Nothing pleased him more than to 
hand to anyone who had interested or amused him a 
delicious beverage, and often enough in the utmost 
good-humour he bade the recipient keep the cup as 
a memento of his interview — and " mind," he added, 
" you drink my health and Queen Jehanne's some- 
times." 

Rene's consideration of and generosity to his ser- 
vants and attendants was proverbial. The Comptes are 
full of instructions to his Treasurers to pay such and 
such sums of money or other benefactions. To 
Jehan de Serancourt, an equerry, for example, he 
gave a purse of 200 ducats, "for thy skilful care of 
my favourite charger." To Alain le Herault, a valet 
and barber " a gold snuffbox and fifty ducats for his 
daughter's confinement." He was very fond of 
quoting the example of Marie d'Harcourt, mother 
of his son-in-law Ferri de Vaudemont, who died in 
1476. She was affectionately called " the Mother 
of the Poor." " She," said Rene, " was rightly 
called ; am not I, then, father too ?" 

Rene was a great collector of works of art and 
curios, although, by the way, he was obliged very 
frequently to distribute his treasures in order to raise 
money for his warlike enterprises and philanthropic 



INTRODUCTORY 29 

pursuits. A speciality was the acquisition of relics of 
saints and other venerable objects. In 1470 he and 
Queen Jehanne assisted at the translation of a piece of 
the True Cross, which he had obtained in Italy, to 
the Church of St. Croix at Angers. Lists of such 
treasures, and, indeed, of the treasures in general of 
his house, may be read in Les Comptes de Boy Rene. 
Many originally came from King John the " Good " 
of France, Rene's great-grandfather, handed down by 
Louis I. and Louis II. of Sicily-Anjou. 

Rene had a penchant for rock-crystal objects and 
miniature carvings in wood. Among the former he 
possessed a very famous winecup, upon which he 
engraved the following quaint conceit : 

" Qui Men beurra 
Dieu voira. 
Qui beurra tout d'une baleine 
Voira Dieu et la Madeleine I" * 



* " Whoso drinks me 
God shall see. 
Whoso at one good breath drains me 
Shall God and the Magdalen see !" 



CHAPTER II 

YOLANDA D'ARRAGONA "A GOOD MOTHER AND A 

GREAT QUEEN." 

I. 

The Queen was in labour, and shivering groups of 
robust citizens and sturdy peasants were gathered in 
front of the royal castle of Zaragoza, eagerly await- 
ing the signal of a happy deliverance. The fervent 
wish of King Juan for a male heir was shared by his 
subjects, for his brother Martino, next in succession, 
was in delicate health ; moreover, he had only one son, 
and he was a cripple. The succession to the throne 
was a source of anxiety to all good Aragonese. To 
be sure, there was a baby Princess already in the 
royal nursery, but whether her mother had been a 
lawful wedded wife, or no more than a barragana of 
the Sovereign, few knew outside the charmed circle of 
the Court. In the opinion of the men and women of 
the triple kingdom generally, this mattered little, for 
natural children were looked upon as strengthening 
the family ; hijos de ganancia they were called. The 
Salic Law, however, barred the female heirs of the 
royal house, so little Juanita was of no importance. 

Within the courtyard, about the royal apartments, 
and all through the precincts of the Presence, min- 

30 




yolanda dare agon a 

(king rene's mother) 

From Coloured Glass Window, Le Mans Cathedral 



To face page 30 



YOLANDA D'ARRAGONA 31 

strels and poets thronged, as well as Ministers and 
officials ; Queen Yolanda was the Queen of Trouba- 
dours, and the courtiers she loved best to have about 
her were merry maids and men — graduates of the 
"Gaya Ciencia." The livelong night they had danced 
and postured, they had piped and sung. Each poet 
of the hilarious company had in turn taken up his 
recitative, printed by staccato notes, to be repeated 
in chorus and in step, until the fandangoes and 
boleros of the South were turned into the boisterous 
whirling jotas of Aragon. The first dawn of day 
brought into play lutes and harps, restrung, retuned 
cellos and hurdy-gurdies, and vihuelas cle penola, 
guitars with metal wires and struck with strong 
herons' plumes, and so awoke the phlegmatic guardians 
of the castle. Sweet and harmonious Provencal 
voices blended with soft notes of melodious singers 
from Languedoc to the running accompaniment of the 
weird Basque music of the mountaineers. 

The Queen, upon her massive curtained bed of 
state, heard the refrains and felt the vibration of the 
lilting measures, and smiled pleasantly as she laid awake 
expectantly. At length the great tenor bell up in the 
chapel turret gave out the hour of six. The last 
note seemed to hang, and many a devout listener 
bent a reverent knee and bared his head, whilst the 
women-folk uttered fervent Aves. One single stroke 
of the metal clapper was followed, ala^ ! immediately by 
another. " Two for a Princess !" resounded from 
lusty throats, but there was a tone of disappointment 
in the cry. The glaring morning sun, however, made 
no mistake, impartial in his love of sex. Dancing 
upon the phosphorescent ripples of the rolling 



32 rene d'anjou and his seven queens 

Mediterranean, he shot golden beams within the 
royal chamber, and crimson flushed the cheeks of the 
royal mother and her child. It was the red-hot sun 
of Spain, and the day was red, too — the feast of 
San Marco, April 2 5, 1380. 

Christened within eight hours of birth — the cus- 
tom in Aragon — and " Yolanda " named, the little 
Princess's advent was speeded right away to distant 
Barrois, her mother's home, by the Queen's Chamber- 
lain, trusty Cavalier Hugues de Pulligny. He had 
been summoned at once to the accouchement couch, 
and given to hold and identify the babe. With him 
he took the Queen's mothering scarf — the token of a 
happy birth — and hied post-haste to lay it and his 
news at the feet of the anxious Duke and Duchess at 
Bar-le-Duc. His reward was a patent of nobility 
and 500 good golden livres. 

Yolanda, Queen-consort of Juan L, King of the 
triple kingdom of Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia — 
Violante de Bar — was the elder of the two daughters 
of Bobert I., Duke of Bar, and his wife, Marie 
of France, daughter of King John II., " the 
Good." Their Court was one of the chief re- 
sorts of the Troubadours and Jongleurs, who 
looked to the Duke's famous mother, Princess 
Iolande of Flanders, as their queen and patroness. 
Bar, or Barrois, first gained royal honours when the 
Emperor Otto III., in 958, created his son and 
successor, Frederic, Count of Bar and Prince of the 
Holy Boman Empire. The succession was handed 
down for hundreds of years, and in 1321 Count 
Henry IV. married the Flemish Princess. Her 
jewels and her trousseau were the talk of half a 
century. Her gaiety, her erudition, and her skill in 



YOLANDA TARRAGONA 33 

handicraft, were remarkable ; her Court the most 
splendid in Europe. 

Bar was, so to speak, the golden hub of the great 
humming wheel of Franco-Flemish arts and crafts. 
Bordered by Luxembourg, Lorraine, Champagne, and 
Burgundy, the fountain-heads of rich and generous 
vintages, she took toll of all, and the Barroisiens 
were the healthiest, wealthiest, and the merriest folk 
in the French borderland. 

The influence of the bewitching and accomplished 
Princess- Countess Iolande was paramount, and she 
was ever adding to her fame by making royal pro- 
gresses throughout her husband's domains. Wherever 
she went, music and the fine arts, and every artistic 
cult and useful craft, prospered amazingly. Borne in 
a great swaying chariot, drawn by four strong white 
Flemish horses, the magnificence of her cortege led 
on one occasion, if not on more, nearly to her undoing. 
Travelling in the summer-time of the year 1361 to 
Clermont en Argonne, one of the ducal castles, she 
was, when not very far away from storied Laon, be- 
set by an armed company of outlaws, who, however, 
treated her with charming courtesy. They caused 
the Princess and her ladies to descend from their 
equipage and step it with them as vis-a-vis under the 
greenwood tree. Then, not very gallantly, to be 
sure, they stripped their fair partners of their orna- 
ments and despoiled the princely treasure, causing the 
Princess to sign a pardon for their onslaught. The 
adventure, however, did not end here, for Iolande 
was a match for any man, and on the spot she 
enrolled her highwaymen as recruits for Count 
Henry's army ! 

The almost fairy Princess-Countess survived her 



34 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

consort many years, and lived to see the county of 
Bar raised to a dukedom, and to dance upon her 
knee a little namesake granddaughter, Violante de 
Bar. Nothing gave her greater pleasure than the 
floral games of the troubadours, and one of these 
fetes galants was enacted in 1363 at the Ducal 
Castle of Val de Cassel, where Duchess Marie had 
just brought into the world this very baby girl. The 
poets chose their laureate — one Eustache Des- 
champs-Morel, and Princess Iolande crowned him 
with bays. The ballade he composed for those aus- 
picious revels is still extant — Du Metier Profitable 
— wherein he maintains that only two careers are 
open to happy mortals. 

" Ces deux ont partout Vavantage, 
L'un en junglant, V autre a comer." 

The sights and sounds, then, which first greeted the 
pretty child were merry and tuneful. She was reared 
on troubadour fare, on troubadour lore. Violante 
had three brothers, Edouard, Jehan, and Louis, and a 
younger sister Bonne, married to Nicholas, Comte 
de Ligny, but alas ! buried with her firstborn before 
the high-altar of St. Etienne at Bar-le-Duc. 

When Violante was in her seventeenth year, there 
came a royal traveller, disguised as a troubadour of 
Languedoc, to the Court of Love at Bar-le-Duc. 
His quest was for a bride. He was of ancient 
lineage ; his forbears came from Bia, in a southern 
upland valley of the Eastern Pyrenees, and had ruled 
the land 'twixt barren mountain and wild seacoast 
for no end of years — Juan I., King of Aragon, 
Catalonia, and Valencia. He had just buried 
Mahaud d'Armagnac, the young mother of his little 



YOLANDA TARRAGONA 35 

daughter Juanita, and there was a gaping wound 
in his amorous heart which yearned for healing. 
The royal Benedict looked for a Venus with a dash 
of Diana and a measure of Minerva, and chroniclers 
say he had drawn blank the Courts of Spain and 
Southern France. Moreover, they tell a pretty tale 
of him which must now again be told. 

After wanderings manifold, the royal knight-errant 
found himself within the pageant-ground of Bar-le- 
Duc and at a "Court of Love." There he broke shield 
and lance at tilt, and Prince Cupid pierced his heart. 
Mingling in the merry throng, King Juan found him- 
self partnered by the most beauteous damsel his eyes 
had ever seen. She was the Princess Violante, 
daughter of the Duke. Before she realized what her 
gay vis-a-vis had said and done, he vanished. But upon 
her maiden finger glittered a royal signet-ring. Back 
to Zaragoza sped the gay troubadour, and in a trice 
a noble embassy was on its way to the Barrois Court 
to claim the hand of the fascinating Princess and to 
exchange the heavy ring of State for the lighter 
jewelled hoop of espousal. 

The entry of Queen Yolanda (Violante) into 
Zaragoza was a resplendent function, and, despite 
their habitual taciturnity, the citizens hailed the 
lovely consort of their King with heartiest acclama- 
tions. In her train came minstrels and glee-maidens 
from Champagne and Burgundy, from Provence and 
the Valley of the Rhine and Languedoc. Such 
merry folk were unknown in phlegmatic Aragon. 
To be sure, they had their poets, their dances and 
their songs, but they were the semi-serious pastimes 
of the sturdy Basque mountaineers. 

The Academie des Jeux Floraux of Toulouse, — 



36 RENti D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

newly founded in 1323, and better known there as 
the College du Gaye Sgavoir, — sent an imposing 
company of minstrels to greet the new Queen of 
Aragon at Narbonne — the city of romance and song 
— and to offer her a spectacular serenade beneath 
the balconies of the Archiepiscopal Palace, where 
she and her suite were accommodated. With them 
they bore golden flowers and silver with which 
Royal Violante should crown the laureates, and to 
Her Majesty they offered a great amaranth of 
gold, together with the diploma of a Mainteneuse. 
Acclaimed " Queen of Troubadours," her motley 
train swept through the cities of the coast and 
crossed the Spanish frontier. One and all offered 
her their true allegiance — to live and dance and sing 
and die for Yolanda d'Arragona. 

If the Aragonese were noted for stubbornness, — 
and of them was curtly said : " The men of Aragon 
will drive nails in their heads rather than use 
hammers," — they have a sound reputation for chivalry. 
King Iago II. established this characteristic in an 
edict in 1327. "We will," ran the royal rescript, 
" that every man, whether armed or not, who shall 
be in company with a lady, pass safely and unmolested 
unless he be guilty of murder." Courting an alegra 
senorita, whether of Aragon, Catalonia, or Valencia, 
was the duty of every lad, albeit the fair one jokingly 
called it " pelando la pava" (plucking the turkey). 
The royal romance was a charming example for all 
and sundry, and many an amorous French troubadour 
had his wings cut by Prince Cupid and never went 
home again at all, and many a glee-maiden, to boot, 
plucked a " turkey " of Aragon ! 

King Juan threw himself unreservedly into the 



YOLANDA D'ARRAGONA 37 

arms of his merry Minerva- Venus Queen : no doubt 

she " plucked " him thoroughly ! A " Court of Love " 

was established at Zaragoza. All day long they 

danced, and all night through they sang, and at all times 

played their floral games, whilst dour senors scowled 

and proud duenas grimaced. The revels of the "Gay a 

Ciencia " shocked their susceptibilities, until a crisis 

was reached in 1340, when the King sent embassies 

to all the French Courts to enlist the services of their 

best troubadours. A solemn session of the Cortes, 

wherein resided the actual power of the State, — the 

King was King only by their pleasure, — was called, 

" Podemos mas que vos " — " We are quite as good as 

you, or even better " — that was the moving spirit of 

Aragon. A resolution was passed demanding the 

suppression of " the feast of folly," as the gay doings 

at Court were called, and the immediate expulsion of 

the foreign minstrels and their hilarious company. 

Here was a fix for the easy-going King, — dubbed 
by many " V Indolente" the Indolent, — between the 
devil and the deep sea. The Queen point-blank 
refused to say good-bye to her devotes, and her 
wiles prevailed to retain many a merry lover at her 
Court, for the stoutest will of man yields to the 
witchery of beauty in every rank of life ! 

If Queen Yolanda was a "gay woman," as his- 
torians have called her, — and no class of men are 
anything like so mendacious, — she was not the " fast " 
woman some of them have maliciously styled her. 
No, she was a loving spouse and a devoted mother. 
Perhaps, could she have chosen, she would have 
brought forth a boy ; but, still, every mother loves her 
child regardless of sex or other considerations. She 
addressed herself zealously to the rearing of the little 



38 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

princess. No sour-visaged hidalgo and no censorious 
citizen was allowed the entree to the nursery. 
Minstrels rejoiced at the nativity, and minstrels 
shared the rocking of the cradle. She was baptized 
at the old mosque-like cathedral of Sa Zeo, or San 
Salvador, — where the Kings her forbears were all 
anointed and crowned, — with the courtly ceremonial 
of Holy Church, whilst outside the people sang their 
well-loved ditties. Quite the favourite was " Nocte 
Buena " — 

" La Vergin se fui' in lavar 

Sui manos blancas al rio ; 

El Sol sequedo parado, 

La Mar perdio su ruido" etc.* 

and many, many other verses. Zaragoza was famous 
for the splendour of her mystery plays, as many 
quaint entries in the archives of the archdiocese 
prove : " Seven sueldos for making up the heads of 
the ass and the ox for the stable at Bethlehem ; six 
sueldos for wigs for the prophets ; ten sueldos for 
gloves for the angels." 

The little Princess was not the only occupant of 
the royal nursery in Zaragoza ; King Juan's child 
Juanita greeted her baby companion with glee, but 
the Queen was not too well pleased that she should 
be allowed to remain there. Indeed, an arrangement 
was come to whereby Mahaud's child was delivered 
over to a governante, and Princess Yolanda was 
queen of all she saw. Very carefully her training 
was taken in hand, with due respect to the peccadilloes 
of the Court ; but her mother saw to it that her 

* " To the rivulet the Virgin sped, 
Her fair white hands to wash ; 
The wandering Sun stood still o'erhead, 
The Sea cast up no splash," etc. 



YOLANDA DARRAGONA 39 

environment should be youthful, bright, and intelligent. 
Hardly before the child was out of leading-strings her 
future was under serious consideration, for the King 
had no son nor the promise of one by his consort, and 
Queen Yolanda determined to do all that lay in her 
power to circumvent the obnoxious clauses of the 
Salic Law. 

The Princess grew up handsome like her father and 
bewitching like her mother. She was the pet of the 
palace and the pride of the people, and everybody 
prophesied great things for her and Aragon. The 
most important question was, naturally, betrothal and 
marriage. The King, easy-going in everything, left 
this delicate matter to his ambitious, clever Queen, 
and very soon half the crowns in posse in Europe were 
laid at her daughter's feet. 

The survey of eligible lads of royal birth was far 
and wide, but, with the tactful instinct of a ruling 
native, Queen Yolanda made a very happy choice. 
At Toulouse, three years before the birth of her little 
daughter, had been born a royal Prince, the eldest 
son of her uncle Louis of France, her mother's 
brother, titular King of Naples, Sicily, and Jerusalem, 
Duke of Anjou, and Count of Provence. The boy's 
mother was Countess Marie de Chatillon, the wealthy 
heiress of the ducal line of Blois-Bretagne. He was 
the husband-to-be of Princess Yolanda d'Arragona, 
Louis d' Anjou. King Juan cordially approved the 
selection of the young Prince : French royal mar- 
riages were popular in Aragon. An imposing 
embassy was despatched at once to Angers, with an 
invitation for the boy to visit the Court of Zaragoza 
under the charge of his aunt, Queen Yolanda. The 
King and Queen made the most they could of their 



40 rene d'anjou and his seven queens 

interesting little visitor. With a view to contingen- 
cies, Louis was introduced at the session of the Cortes, 
and the King gave splendid entertainments to the 
ricoshombres and other members of the Estates in 
honour of his future son-in-law, the royal fiance of 
the soi-disante heiress to the throne. 

This notable visit came to an abrupt and unexpected 
end upon receipt of the news of the sudden death of 
King-Duke Louis at the Castle of Bisclin, in La 
Pouille, on September 20, 1389. His young son, 
now Louis II., was called home at once. Met at the 
Languedoc frontier by a kingly escort, the young 
Sovereign passed on to Aries, and thence to Avignon, 
where, on October 25, 1389, he was solemnly crowned 
in the basilica of Notre Dame des Dons by Pope 
Clement VII. A stately progress was made to the 
Court of Charles VI. in Paris, and the youthful King 
was presented to imperious Queen Isabeau, — his 
aunt by marriage, — the proud daughter of Stephen II., 
Duke of Bavaria, and Princess Thadee Visconti of 
Milan. 

The chief object of this visit was the formal 
betrothal of the young King and the Princess 
Yolanda d'Arragona — a ceremony deemed too im- 
portant for celebration either at Angers or at Aix, in 
the King's domains. A notable function, in the 
grand metropolitan cathedral of Notre Dame, was 
held on, of all days the most suitable, the Feast of 
the Three Holy Kings, January 6, 1390, whereat 
assisted all the Princes and Princesses of the House 
of France, with Prince Ferdinand of Castile and 
Aragon as proxy for the bride-Princess, and an 
imposing embassy from King Juan and Queen 
Yolanda. 




En 2 



" "S 



H JS 



YOLANDA TARRAGONA 41 

Back to Angers went, with his mother, Queen- 
Duchess Marie, the youthful bridegroom-elect, to be 
safeguarded and trained for his brilliant career. 
Everybody in Anjou and Provence loved their 
Duchess. She had won all hearts. Those were 
prosperous, happy days — the days of the gracious 
Regent's kindly government. 

Early in 1393 King Juan met with a serious 
accident whilst hunting in the mountains around 
Tacca, the ancient capital of Aragon. He was, by 
the way, a famous huntsman, and had gained by his 
keenness in pursuit of game the title of "El Cazador" 
— " The Sportsman." Mauled by a wolf he had 
wounded in the chase, he never recovered from the 
loss of blood and the poison of those unclean fangs. 
Feeling his end approaching, and anxious about the 
future of his darling child, he proposed to Queen 
Marie and the Anjou-Provence Court of Regency 
that the nuptials of Louis and Yolanda should be 
celebrated without delay. This he did because he 
had determined to evade the restrictions of the Salic 
Law by proclaiming Louis and Yolanda heir and 
heiress together of Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia. 

Queen Yolanda most heartily seconded her con- 
sort's project, — indeed, she it was who had first 
suggested that line of action, — and when, on 
May 15, the King breathed his last in the castle 
of his fathers in Zaragoza, she claimed the succession 
for her son-in-law and daughter. On the day follow- 
ing the King's death she took the young Princess, — 
barely thirteen years of age, — accompanied by the 
whole Court and a crowd of sympathetic citizens, 
into the basilica of Sa Zeo, and placed her upon the 
magnificent and historic silver throne of the Kings 



42 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

of Aragon. Bending her knees before her, she 
kissed the child's hand in homage to her sovereignty, 
and caused heralds to proclaim her " Yolanda Reina 
d'AiTagona." It was a bold step, but quite in accord 
with the ruling instinct of the royal house ; more- 
over, it commanded the suffrages of very many 
members of the Cortes. 

The Estates of the three realms met in plenary 
session, and before the deliberations were opened the 
little " Queen " was presented by her mother, who 
demanded a unanimous vote in favour of Louis and 
Yolanda. There were, however, other claimants for 
the crown, and the Cortes decided to offer it to Dorn 
Martino, the late King's only surviving brother, a 
next heir-male of the blood, whose consort was Queen 
Maria of Sicily. The new King treated his widowed 
sister-in-law and his little niece with the utmost con- 
sideration. He prevailed upon Queen Yolanda to 
retain the royal apartments at the castle, for he did 
not propose to reside there. He only stayed at 
Zaragoza for his coronation, and returned at once to 
Palermo. 

The whole energy of the widowed Queen was now 
devoted to the education of her only child. Her 
widowhood weighed lightly upon her ; her buoyant, 
happy nature soon shook off her grief and mourning. 
She was now perfectly free to cultivate her tastes. If 
the " little Queen " was not to be Queen of Aragon, 
she should succeed herself as " Queen of Hearts and 
Troubadours." Accordingly she moved her residence 
to Barcelona, the sunny and the gay, and there at 
once set up a " Court of Love/' Catalonia was times 
out of mind the rival of Provence in romance and 
minstrelsy ; her marts had quite as many merry 



VOLANDA D'ARRAGONA 43 

troubadours as serious merchants. The corridas de 
tor os — bullfights — of Barcelona were the most 
brilliant in Spain, whilst the people were as inde- 
dependent and as unconventional as they were 
cultured and industrious. The two Queens very 
soon became expert aficionadas of the royal sport. 

Queen Yolanda never for a moment lost sight of 
the future of her daughter, and preparations for her 
marriage to Louis d'Anjou occupied very much of 
her busy, merry, useful life. Queens' trousseaux 
were something more than nine days' wonders ; be- 
sides, the ambition of the mother-Queen knew no 
bounds to her daughter's horizon. She must go 
forth at least as richly clothed and dowered as 
any of her predecessors. Goldsmiths, glass-blowers, 
cabinet-makers, saddlers, silk-weavers, and potters, — 
none more accomplished and famous in Europe than 
the artificers of Barcelona and Valencia, — were set to 
work to fill the immense walnut marriage-chests of 
the bride-to-be. Her jewels were superb, — no richer 
gold was known than the red gold of Aragon, — the 
royal gems were unique, of Moorish origin, uncut. 
Years passed quickly along, and Princess Yolanda 
kept her eighteenth birthday with her mother in 
Barcelona. She was on the threshold of a new life. 



II. 

One glorious autumn morning in the good year 
1399, — " good " because " the next before a brand-new 
century," as said the gossips of the time, — a gallant 
cavalcade deployed down the battlemented approach 
to the grim old castle of Angers. At its head, 
mounted upon a prancing white Anjou charger, rode 



44 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

as comely a young knight as ever hoisted pennoned 
lance to stirrup-lock. He was dressed in semi- 
armour, — the armour of the " Lists." His errand was 
not warlike, for knotted in his harness were Cupid's 
love-ribbons : he was a royal bridegroom-elect speed- 
ing off to bring gaily home from distant Aragon his 
fair betrothed. He had been knighted ten years 
before by his uncle, Charles VI., at his coronation in 
Notre Dame in Paris, at which solemnity he had, — 
a slim lad of twelve, — held proudly the stirrup of the 
Sovereign. 

Louis II. d'Anjou, born at the Castle of Toulouse 
on October 7, 1377, succeeded his father, Louis I., in 
1389, and, like him, bore many titles of sovereignty : 
King of Naples, Sicily, and Jerusalem ; Duke of 
Anjou, Calabria, Touraine, and Pouille ; Grand Peer 
of France ; Prince of Capua ; Count of Provence, 
Maine, Forcalquier, and Piemont ; Lord of Mont- 
pellier ; and Governor of Languedoc and Guienne. 
-His grandfather was the brave but unfortunate King 
John " the Good " of France ; his grandmother, the 
beautiful but sorrowful Queen Bonne of Luxembourg 
and Bohemia. 

The boy-King carrouselled through the lumbering 
gates of Angers that brilliant October morning 
between two trusty knights of his household, — loyal 
lieges of their late King now devoted to the service 
of the son. As valiant in deeds of war as discreet in 
affairs of State were Raymond d'Agout and Jehan de 
Morien. All three bore the proud cognizance of 
Sicily- Anjou, — the golden flying eagle, — and their 
silken bannerets were sewn with the white lilies of 
the royal house of France. A goodly retinue of 
mounted men followed the young King, guarding the 



YOLANDA D'ARRAGONA 45 

person and the costly bridal gifts which accompanied 
the royal lover's cortege. 

Queen-Duchess Marie, his mother, had kept as 
Regent unweariedly her long ten years' watch, not 
only over the business of the State, but also over the 
passions and the actions of her lusty, well-grown son. 
Many a maid, — royal, noble, and simple, — had 
attracted the comely youth's regard, and had flushed 
her face and his. Women and girls of his time were, 
as an appreciative chronicler has noted, " /ranches, 
desinter esses, capable d'amours, epidemcntes, elles 
restent naive tres longtemps, parceque les vices 
etranghres n'ont point penetres dans les families."* 
Louis had responded affectionately and loyally to 
his mother's solicitude ; he was famed as the 
St. Sebastian of his time, whose chastity and good 
report had no sharp shaft of scandal pierced. 

The royal cavalcade pranced its way warily over 
the wide-rolling plains and across the gently cresting 
hill-country of Central France, making for the Spanish 
frontier. The whole of that smiling land was ravaged 
by foreign foes and overrun by native ne'er-do-wells, 
but, happily, no thrilling adventures have been 
recorded of that lengthy progress. Near upon the 
eve of St. Luke, King Louis II. and his suite were 
cordially welcomed in his royal castle of Montpellier, 
which the two mother-Queens, Marie and Yolanda, 
had indicated as the trysting-place. There the roj^al 
Court was established, whilst d'Agout and de 
Morien were despatched, with a lordly following, to 
Perpignan and across the frontier of Aragon to greet, 

* "Natural, open-hearted, amorous, and accessible, they are 
always unspoiled because odious foreign manners have never marred 
their home." 



46 REN^ D\ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

at the Castle of Gerona, the two Yolandas — who were 
already on their way from Barcelona — and thence 
escort them to their Sovereign's presence. 

The young " Queen " was quite as anxious to 
meet her affianced husband as he was to embrace 
her, and no undue delay hindered the resumption of 
the queenly progress. It was a notable cortege, for 
Queen Yolanda, holding as she did tenaciously that 
her daughter was, at least, titular Queen of Aragon, 
Catalonia, and Valencia, travelled in extravagant 
royal state. Besides the great chariot, with its 
tapestries and furniture of richest Hispano-Moorish 
origin, were others almost as sumptuous for the lords 
and ladies of the suite. All these had their guards 
of honour — trusty veterans of King Juan's time, and 
devoted to their "Queen." Great tumbrils, laden 
with costly products of Zaragoza, Barcelona, and 
Valencia, — the royal trousseau and magnificent offer- 
ings for King Louis and his widowed mother, — 
accompanied by well-mounted cavalry, rolled heavily 
along the ancient Roman road to France. 

The whole of Languedoc agreed to pay honour to 
the royal travellers, and they revelled in the floral 
games and fetes galants offered by every town and 
castle by the way. From Toulouse, the birthplace of 
the bridegroom-elect, came quite appropriately a 
phalanx of maintaineurs to Montpellier to recite and 
sing poems and melodies of the "Gaya Ciencia." The 
green rolling hills of Languedoc gave back in sweetly 
echoing refrains the tuneful music of the shell-sown 
shores of the rolling sea, the sun-kissed Mediter- 
ranean : all sang the " Loves of Louis and Yolanda." 

There is a quaint and suggestive story anent the 
meeting of the august young couple which calls to 



YOLANDA DARRAGONA 47 

mind the adventures of King Juan at the Court of 
Bar-le-Duc. The young King had timely warning 
of the approach of his royal bride-elect, and, hastily 
donning the guise of a simple knight, he mingled in 
the throng of enthusiastic citizens, unrecognized, at 
the entrance of the town. Both Queens leaned for- 
ward in their chariot to acknowledge the loyal greet- 
ings ; and the bride, — arrayed in golden tissue of 
Zaragoza, and wearing Anjou lilies in her hair, — 
smiled and laughed and clapped her hands in ecstasy, 
the animation adding immensely to her charms of 
face and figure. King Louis was enraptured, and, 
falling head over ears in love, approached the royal 
carriage ; and kneeling on his berretta, he seized the 
youthful Queen's white, shapely hand, and implanted 
thereupon one ardent kiss. The impact sent the hot 
blood coursing through his veins, and it was as much 
as his esquire could do to drag his master back and 
hurry him to the palace in time to change his 
costume and receive his royal guests with courtly 
etiquette. The young Queen was conscious of this 
outburst of love ; she, too, coloured, and tried in vain 
to penetrate the disguise of her impassioned lover. 
The mother-Queen instinctively guessed who he was, 
and quietly remarked : " You will meet your gallant 
knight again, and soon — and no mistake." 

Montpellier was all too small to accommodate such 
a numerous and such a distinguished company, so 
King Louis gave his royal visitors barely time to 
recover from the fatigues of the long coach-ride out 
of Spain when he hurried on the royal train to Aries, 
in Provence. Queen-Duchess Marie was already 
waiting at the great Archiepiscopal Palace to give the 
royal visitors a cordial greeting. After having waved 

4 



48 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

her son adieu from the boudoir-balcony of the Castle 
of Angers, she, too, set out for the south. She had 
chosen Aries for the royal nuptials, as being the 
capital of the third great kingdom of Europe and the 
most considerable city in her son's dominions. 

No better choice could have been made from a 
psychological point of view, for have not the Arlesi- 
ennes been noted for all time for their perfect figures, 
■ — Venus di Milo was one of them, — their graceful 
carriage, and surpassingly good looks ? They, with 
their menfolk, animated and merry, have always eaten 
well and well drunk. The delicious pink St. Peray 
is a more generous wine than all the vintages of 
Champagne. Physical charms and Jin bouquets were 
ever incentives to love and pleasure, and Mars of 
Aragon yielded up his arms to Venus of Aries. 
Aries — la belle Grecque aux yeux Sarrazines ! 
Perhaps the becoming, close-fitting black velvet 
chapelles, or bonnets, and the diaphanous white 
gauze veils, did much to express la grdce fibre aux 
femmes ! 

It was indeed a gorgeous function at which the 
royal couple were united in the bonds of matrimony, 
that morrow of All Saints, 1399. The ancient 
basilica of St. Trophimus was one vast nave, no 
choir, — that the royal brothers Louis and Rene built 
a generation later, — but it was too circumscribed for 
the marriage ritual ; consequently, under a gold and 
crimson awning, slung on ships' masts beyond the 
deeply recessed chief portal, with its weird sculptures, 
the clergy took up their station to await the bridal 
pageant. The Cardinal- Archbishop, Nicholas de 
Brancas, joined the two young hands in wedlock, and 
Cardinal Adreano Savernelli, the Papal Legate, gave 



YOLANDA D'ARRAGONA 49 

the blessing of Peter, whilst the two mother-Queens 
looked on approvingly. 

The royal bride, — in white, of course, — had an over- 
kirtle, or train, of gemmed silver tissue — a thing of 
wonderment and beauty worn by her royal mother, 
and her mother, Marie de France, before her, and 
coming" from the Greco - Flemish trousseau of the 
famous Countess Iolande. Her abundant brown- 
black hair was plaited in two thick ropes, with pearls 
and silver lace reaching far below the jewelled golden 
cincture that encompassed her well - formed bust. 
Upon her thinly covered bosom reposed the kingly 
medallion of her father, King Juan, with its massive 
golden chain of Estate, the emblem of her sovereign 
rank. Upon her finger she wore the simple ruby ring 
of betrothal, now to be exchanged for the plain 
golden hoop of marriage. 

" Yolande is one of the most lovely creatures any- 
body could imagine." So wrote grim old Juvenal 
des Ursines, the chatty chronicler of Courts. She 
brought to her royal spouse a rich dowry — much of 
the private wealth of her father and many art 
treasures, among them great lustred dishes and vases 
of Hispano-Moorish potters' work, with the royal 
arms and cipher thereon. Four baronies, too, passed 
to the Sicily- Anjou crown : Lunel in Languedoc — 
famed for vintages of sweet muscatel wines — Berre, 
Martignes, and Istres, all bordering the salt Etang 
de Berre, in Provence, each a Venice in miniature, 
and rich in salt, salt-dues, and works. The royal 
bride's splendid marriage-chests were packed full of 
costly products of King Juan's kingdoms : table 
services in gold from Zaragoza and finely-cut gems ; 
delicate glass arruxiados, or scent-sprinklers, and 



50 rene d^njou and his seven queens 

crystal tazzas from Barcelona — more famous than 
Murano ; great brazen vessels from Valencia and 
richly-woven textiles. 

The same veracious historian has painted a picture 
in words of the youthful Yolande. " Tall," he says, 
" slim, erect, well proportioned in her frame, her 
features of a Spanish cast, dark lustrous hair, the 
Queen-Duchess has an intrepid heart and an elevated 
spirit, which give animation and distinction to her 
charming personality. She is remarkable for decision, 
and commands obedience by her authoritative 
manner." 

The Court did not tarry long at Aries, for, in 
spite of the beauty of the women and the gallantry 
of the men and its other notable attractions, it was, 
after all, somewhat of a dull, unhealthy place. A 
move was accordingly made, — before, indeed, the 
festivities were quite exhausted, — to the comfortable 
and roomy manoir of Tarascon, a very favourite 
country residence of all the Provence Princes. The 
gardens were famous, and laid out in the Italian 
manner, and the extensive park and fresh-water lakes 
were well stocked with game and fish. The fetes 
galants of Louis XV. and " La Pompadour " here 
had their model. The bridal couple, with their 
guests and retainers, — often as not in the guise of 
shepherds and shepherdesses, — thus kept there state 
for three merry months, until the warmer spring 
weather hurried them off to Angers, in the north. 

The pretty legend of St. Martha of Bethany 
appealed to the young Queen - Duchess. In the 
crypt of the principal church of Tarascon is the tomb 
of the saint, and on the walls is her story sculptured. 
Once upon a time a deadly dragon, — called by the 




FAVOURITE RECREATIONS 
I. A DIGNIFIED MUSIC PABTY. 2. HAND-BALL AND CHESS 

Both from Miniatures in MS., Fourteenth Century, " Valeur Maxime " 
British Museum 



To face page 50 



YOLANDA TARRAGONA 51 

fearful countryfolk " Tarasque," — dwelt in a hollow 
cave by the Rhone shore, and fed on human flesh. 
News of the devastation wrought by the monster 
reached the ears of Lazarus and his sisters at Mar- 
seilles, and St. Martha took upon herself to subdue 
the beast. With nothing in her hand but a piece of 
the true Cross of Christ and her silken girdle of many 
ells in length, she sought out the deadly dragon in 
his lair. Casting around his loathsome body her 
light cincture, she enabled her companions to slay 
him. The girdle of St. Martha became the mascot 
of all the Tarasconnais, and everybody wore a goodly 
belt or bodice a la Marthe. Such a girdle, in cloth 
of gold and tasselled, was offered to the young bride 
by the loyal townsfolk. 

The state entry of the Sovereigns into Angers, — 
the major capital of the King-Duke's dominions, — 
was just such another pageant as that which greeted 
Queen Isabeau of Bavaria in Paris in the summer of 
1385. From ancient days Angers had been a place 
of note — the Andegavi of Gallo-Roman times, a 
municipium and a castrum combined. In the 
Carlovingian era the Counts — then Dukes — of the 
Angevines, — founders of the great Capet family, — 
and their vigorous consorts nursed stalwart sons, who 
were the superiors of their neighbour rulers in Frank- 
land. From Geoffrey Plantagenet, titular King of 
Jerusalem, sprang our English Kings. Louis IX., — 
St. Louis of blessed memory, — bestowed the duchy of 
Anjou upon his brother John with the title of King 
of the Two Sicilies ; hence came the sovereign titles 
of Louis II. and Yolande. 

The Castle of Angers in the fourteenth and 
fifteenth centuries was one of the most imposing in 



52 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

France. Flanked by eighteen great donjon towers, 
shaped like dice-boxes, it had the aspect of a prison 
rather than of a palace. The royal apartments were 
between two great bastions, Le^Tour du Moulin and 
L&^Tour du Diable. The drawbridge spanned the 
deep, wide moat to the esplanade called Le Pont du 
Monde ; beneath were dark dungeons and odious 
oubliettes. To honour their King and Queen, the 
castle household hung great swaying lengths of scarlet 
" noble cloth," — newly purchased from the Florentine 
merchants of the " Calimala," — to cover up the black 
slate-stone courses of the masonry of Le Diable, whilst 
they concealed the rough masonry of Le Moulin by 
strips of gorgeous yellow canvas of Cholet d'Anjou. 
These were the heraldic colours of Aragon. All the 
gloomy slate-fronted houses of the city, — " Black 
Angers " it was called, — were decorated similarly, 
and gay Flemish carpets and showy skins of beasts 
were flaunted from the windows. The citizens kept 
holiday with bunches of greenery and early spring 
flowers in their hands to cast at their new liege Lady. 
Queen Yolande waved her gloved hand, — a novelty 
in demure Angers, — in friendly response to the 
plaudits of the throngs, and refused no kiss of 
bearded mouth or cherry lips thereon as she rode 
on happily by the side of her royal spouse. At 
St. Maurice, — the noble cathedral, with its new and 
glorious coloured windows, — the royal cortege halted 
whilst Te Deum was sung, and the bridal pair were 
sprinkled with holy water and censed. Another 
" Station " was made where the ascent to the castle 
began, for there pious loyal folk had prepared the 
mystery- spectacles of the " Resurrection of Christ " 
with " His Appearance to His Virgin Mother." The 



YOLANDA TARRAGONA 53 

Saviour's features, by a typical but strange conceit, 
were those of the King-Duke, St. Mary's those of 
the royal bride ! 

The banquetings and junketings were scenes of 
deep amazement to the new Queen. In Aragon and 
Barcelona people ate and drank delicately, — their 
menus were a la Grecque, — but in cold and phleg- 
matic Anjou great hunks of beef and great mugs of 
sack, — quite a la Romain,- — were de rigueur. An 
old kitchen reporter of Angers records the daily fare 
at the castle : " One whole ox, two calves, three sheep, 
three pigs, twelve fowls." The only artistic confec- 
tion was " hippocras, seasoned with cloves and cinna- 
mon." Pepper, ginger, rosemary, mint, and thyme, 
were served as " delicacies." Another harsh note on 
the fitness of things which struck the royal bride as 
extraordinary was the loud laughter indulged in by 
the gentlemen of the Court and their coarse jests ; le 
rirefrangais had nothing of the mellowed merriment 
of the " Gay a Oiencia." 

Alas ! the rejoicings and the feastings of the 
Angevines and their guests were suddenly arrested, 
and the enthusiastic shouts of welcome were drowned 
by harsh hammerings of armourers and raucous mili- 
tary commands. The King-Duke was summoned to 
take his position among the captains of France, in 
battle order, in face of the foreign foe, and the Queen- 
Duchess, young and inexperienced as she was, assumed 
the government of Angers and the care of the citizens. 
All France was ravaged by the English, and State 
after State fell before their onslaught. Yolande 
addressed herself to the strengthening of the defences 
of the castle and the city. Imitating the tact and 
prudence of Silvestro and Giovanni de' Medici at 



54 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

Florence, she ordered the levying of a poll-tax, rated 
upon the variations of land-tenure and the varying 
incomes of the craftsmen : a tenth of all rateable 
property, — shrewdly spread over three years, with a 
credit for immediate needs, — was cordially yielded by 
the Angevines. 

Probably this impost was made upon the advice of 
worthy councillors, but, all the same, the manner in 
which the young chatelaine Lieutenant-General in 
person superintended its operation was an eloquent 
testimony to her force of character and her true 
patriotism. She disposed of many personal belong- 
ings, and submitted to many acts of self-denial, an 
example quickly followed by great and small. She 
sent also to Zaragoza for master-armourers to refurbish 
old and temper new weapons of various sorts. Some 
of these craftsmen she ordered to give instruction to 
native workers ; so very shortly her armoury was 
efficient, not alone for home defence, but for the re- 
arming of the King's forces in the field. 

Not content with these warlike preparations, 
Queen Yolande gave time and money for the distrac- 
tion and amusement of her people in their time of 
stress. Castle fetes, town sports, and church 
mystery plays, were bravely carried through. The 
Queen herself was everywhere — now mounted for 
the chase, now tending sick folks, now at public 
prayers. Born daughter of a grand race, and full of 
dignity, she had inherited her mother's happy dis- 
position. She charmed everyone in town and country, 
and endeared herself to her loving subjects by many a 
homely trait. 

A pretty tale has been preserved about her whilst 
King Louis was standing shoulder to shoulder with 



YOLANDA TARRAGONA 55 

Charles VI. and his other peers of France. One 
afternoon, — according to her wont when not hindered 
by affairs of State or claims of charity, — she sallied 
forth to the royal park of L'Vien, her dogs in leash. 
Let loose, they put up a rabbit, which made directly 
for their royal mistress, and sought refuge in the skirt 
of her green velvet hunting-kirtle. Reaching down 
her hand, she fondled the little trembling creature, 
when, to her immense surprise, she discovered upon 
its neck a faded ribbon, with a medallion bearing an 
image of the Virgin. The incident occurred in a 
woody dell within the ruins of a half-buried hermit's 
cell. Yolande did not for a moment hesitate in her 
interpretation of the incident. She noted the date, 
— February 2, the Feast of the Purification, — and 
she set to work to restore the holy house in honour 
of St. Mary. Upon the portal, by her command, 
was sculptured the charming episode, with the 
legend : " Ndtre Dame de Sousterre, Vamie et la 
protectrice des dmes en danger?'* 

The same year, 1401, found Louis d'Anjou and 
Yolande upon their way to Paris, where she, as 
Queen of Jerusalem, Naples, Sicily, and Aragon, 
made her state entry at the Court of Charles VI. 
and Isabeau. Doubtless the young Queen was struck 
with Isabeau's extraordinary freedom of manner. 
Her own training, both at Zaragoza and Barcelona, 
in the rigid conventions of a semi-Moorish Court, had 
taught her restraint and aloofness. The dress of the 
French Queen astonished her, for in Aragon and 
Catalonia pirysical charms were enhanced by semi- 
concealment, whereas Isabeau exposed her painted 

* " Our Lady of the Deep Cell, the friend and protectress of souls 
in danger." 



56 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

arms, shoulders, and her breast, right down to her 
cincture ; whilst her low waist at the back was 
pinched by a cotte hardie, so that the bust was 
enlarged to the degree of distortion : une taille de 
guepe — " wasp-like " indeed ! The etiquette of the 
Court of her father, as well as that of Anjou, kept 
men out of the bedchambers of the fair, but Isabeau, 
decolletee and en deshahillee, was the centre of a crowd 
of flatterers and fawners at her daily se lever. The 
dressing-room of Isabeau was the factory of gossip 
and intrigue. Perhaps she gave utterance to the 
aphorism : 

" Ostez le fard et le vice, 
Vous luy ostez I'dme et le corps."* 

On her side Queen Yolande caused a sensation 
among the French courtiers. No one had ever seen 
such a wealth of gold and jewels as that which 
adorned the winsome Spanish Queen. In spite of 
their great dissimilarity in age, appearance, character, 
and manner, the two Queens became fast friends, and 
Yolande was permitted to weld the intimacy into a 
permanent relationship at the fortunate accouchement 
of Isabeau. With admirable simplicity and charm 
she assumed the charge of the royal infant, sponsored 
it, and gave it her own name added to Catherine. 
Born to be the consort of Henry V. of England, the 
victor of Azincourt, Catherine de Valois served as the 
gracious hostage and pledge of a greatly-longed-for 
peace. 

Queen Yolande was, however, approaching her own 
accouchement, and Louis, judging that a fortified 
castle was not a desirable locality for such an 

* " Take away fashion and vice, 

And you expose both soul and body." 



YOLANDA TARRAGONA 57 

auspicious event, hurried his consort and her boudoir 
entourage off to Toulouse, the gay capital of Lan- 
guedoc — Toulouse of the Troubadours. There, upon 
September 25, 1403, within the palace, Yolande 
brought forth her firstborn, her royal husband's son 
and heir. Louis the bonny boy was named by the 
Archbishop at the font of St. Etienne's Cathedral. 
Great was the joy over all the harvest-fields and 
vineyards of Provence and Languedoc. Perhaps the 
good folk of Aix felt themselves a little slighted. 
Why was not the happy birth planned for their 
capital ? they asked. Nevertheless, they sent a 
goodly tribute of 100,000 gold florins to the cradle 
of the little Prince, and saluted him as " Vicomte 
d'Aix." 

The year 1404 had seasons of peculiar sorrow for 
the Angevine Court, followed, happily, by joyous 
daj^s. On May 1 9 the King-Duke's brother, Charles, 
Duke of Maine and Count of Guise, died suddenly at 
Angers, — the " Black Death " they called his malady, 
— amid universal regret. He had been content to 
play a subordinate role in the affairs of State — a man 
more addicted to scholarly pursuits than political 
activities. He had, however, proved himself the son 
of a good mother and the stay of his young sister-in- 
law from Aragon during her spouse's absence from 
his own dominions. The Duke left one only child — 
a boy — who succeeded him as Charles II. of Maine. 
Queen-Duchess Marie felt her dear son's untimely 
death acutely, and, notwithstanding the loving care 
of her devoted daughter-in-law, she never recovered 
from the prostration of her grief. Within a fort- 
night of the obsequies of her son, the feet of those 
who had so sorrowfully borne his body forth to 



58 rene d 1 anjou and his seven queens 

burial were treading the same mournful path, tenderly 
bearing her own funeral casket. 

Ever since her happy marriage to Louis I. in 
1360, Marie de Chatillon-Blois had borne nobly her 
part as the worthy helpmeet of her spouse and the 
devoted mother of his children. For ten years after 
his death her gentle presence and wise counsels had 
directed the affairs of the House of Sicily- Anjou, and 
smoothed away all difficulties from the path of her 
son. She left immense wealth, which, added to the 
goodly fortune of Louis I., made her son the richest 
Sovereign in all France. It was said at the time 
that she was worth " more than twenty- two millions 
of livres." " In spite of reputed avarice and hoard- 
ing," said a not too friendly historian, " she was a 
sapient ruler, moderate and firm, and she left Anjou 
the better for a good example." " Sachiez" wrote 
Bourdigne of her, " que cestoit une dame de goM 
faiet, et de moult grant ponchas, car point ne dormoit 
en poursuivant ses besoignes." 

These dark clouds hung heavily over Louis II. and 
Yolande, but the cause of their passing was a 
signal of enthusiastic joy. On October 14 a little 
baby-girl was born. Mary, the " Mother of Sorrows," 
heard the prayer of the stricken Royal Family, and 
sent a new Mary to fill the place of the lamented 
Duchess ; for the child was named Marie simply, 
and was offered to St. Mary for her own. 

Troubles, however, were gathering thickly all over 
the devoted land of France. The enemy in the gate, 
ever victorious, plundered and pauperized every State 
in turn, so that the country was " like a sheep bleat- 
ing helplessly before her shearers." Tax-gatherers and 
oppressors of mankind beggared the poor and feeble, 



YOLANDA DARRAGONA 59 

and spoiled the rich and brave. " Sd de V argent f 
Sd de V argent ?" — " Where's your money ?" — was the 
desolating cry which the rough cailloux of the village 
pave tossed through the draughty doorways of 
peasant cottages, and the smooth courtyards echoed 
through the mullioned windows of seigneurs' castles. 
The gatherings, in spite of rape and rapine, fell far 
short of the requirements of these times of stress, and 
a general appeal was made to Queens and chdtelaines 
to exercise their charms in staying the hands of 
ravishers. The famous answer of Queen Isabeau 
was that, alas ! of Queen Yolande, though more 
sympathetically expressed : " Je suis une povre voix 
criant dans ce royaume, desireuse de paix et du bien 
de tous /" # 

This aptly expressed the weary sense of disaster 
which saw that fateful year expire, but for the King 
and Queen of Sicily- Anjou-Provence a gleam of the 
brightness of Epiphany fell athwart their marital 
couch. Yolande was for the third time a mother, 
and her child was a boy. Born on January 6, 1408, 
in a crenellated tower of the castle gateway of Angers, 
his mother had to bear the anxiety and the vigil all 
alone, for Louis II. was in Italy fighting for his own. 

As before the birth of the Princess Marie devo- 
tions had been addressed to the Mother of God and to 
the saints for a favourable carriage, now, in view of 
the troubles of the land, special petitions were 
addressed to the most popular saint of Anjou, St. 
Renatus, that the new deliverance might presage a 
new birth of hope for France, and that the holy one, 
— the patron of child-bearing mothers who sought 

* "lama poor voice crying helplessly in this wretched kingdom, 
seeking only peace and the good of all." 



60 rene D'ANJOU and his seven queens 

male heirs, — might supplicate at the throne of heaven 
for a baby-boy. 

Baptized in the Cathedral of St. Maurice eight 
days after birth, the little Prince had for sponsors no 
foreign potentates, but men of good renown and sub- 
stance in Anjou : Pierre, Abbe de St. Aubin ; Jean, 
Seigneur de l'Aigle ; Guillaume, Chevalier des 
Roches ; and Mathilde, Abbee de Notre Dame 
d' Angers. The Queen by proxy named her child 
" Rend — reconnaissance a Messire St. Renatus." 

The Queen folded her little infant to her breast, 
but after weaning him she gave him over to the 
care of a faithful nurse, one Theophaine la Magine of 
Saumur, who came to love him, and he her, most 
tenderly. 

Among the documens historiques of Anjou are 
Les Comptes de Roi Rene — notices of public works 
carried out in various parts of the royal - ducal 
dominions. Many of these enterprises were under- 
taken at the direct instance of Queen Yolande, and 
they throw a strong light upon her character as a 
loyal spouse and sapient ruler. For example, on 
July 2 6, 1408, a marche, or contract, was made 
between the Queen's Council and one Julien Guillot, 
a master-builder, for reslating the roof of the living 
apartments and the towers of the Castle of Angers, 
and also of various public buildings in the city, and 
the manor-houses of Diex-Aye and de la Roche au 
Due, at an upset price of fifty-five livres tournois 
(standard gold coins), " to be paid when the work is 
complete, with twenty more as deposit." 

Again, under date October 25, 1410, another 
marche was signed, whereby " Jean Dueceux and 
Jean Butort, master-carpenters of Angers, agree to 



YOLANDA DARRAGONA 61 

strengthen the woodwork of the castle chapel and 
replace worn-out corbels. AH to be finished against 
the Feast of the Magdalene, at a total cost of two 
hundred livres tournois, according to the order of 
Queen Yolande and her Council." King Louis had 
in 1403 assigned a benefaction of twenty-five gold 
livres to the ancient chapel of St. John Baptist, 
to be paid yearly for ever, as a thank-offering for the 
birth of Princess Marie. 

These documens are full of such notices, and they 
also record events of festive interest. One such 
incident had a most ludicrous denouement : " On the 
twenty - seventh of June, 1409, Messire Yovunet 
Coyrant, Superintendent of the Castle of Angers, paid 
a visit of inspection, and he complained that on 
Sunday, June 23rd of this month, being within the 
said castle, where a merry company was occupied 
with games and drolleries before Queen Yolande and 
the Court, he stood for a time to watch the fun. 
Quite unknown to him, the tails of his new long coat, 
which had cost him ten solz [half a livre], were cut off 
by some miscreant or other, whereby he became an 
object of derision ! For this insult he claimed satis- 
faction, and named as his go-betweens Guye Buy- 
neart and Jehan Guoynie." Whether these practical 
jokers were inspired by the Queen we know not, but 
this trifling record shows that she was not entirely 
absorbed by the heavy responsibilities of her rank as 
Lieutenant-General of her consort, but found time to 
indulge in some of the gaieties which had been the 
joy of her mother and herself in Aragon, and which 
had graced her own nuptials and entry into Anjou 
and Provence. 

Again the mirthful pursuits of the Court and 



62 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

country were stayed by the stringency of the times. 
Sedition spread its baneful influence all over Provence 
and Languedoc what time King Louis was still far 
away fighting in Italy. With courage, fraught with 
love and assurance, she set off to the distant province, 
taking with her, not only an escort of doughty war- 
lords, but also her own tender nurslings — Louis, 
Marie, and Rene. With her children was also the 
young Princess Catherine, daughter of Jean " sans 
Peur," the Duke of Burgundy, whose betrothal to 
her eldest son Louis was imminent. Through his 
children her appeal would first be made to her 
husband's disaffected subjects. Should that fail, then 
she could don cuirass and casque and head her royal 
troops to worst them. With little Vicomte d'Aix 
upon her saddle-lap, she passed through village, town, 
and city, receiving enthusiastic plaudits everywhere ; 
she was " Madame la Nostre Royne /" The head of 
the rebellion was scotched, and from Aix the intrepid 
Queen despatched messengers to the King to tell of 
her success, and to say that she was ready to embark 
at once to his assistance. 

This heroic offer was made possible by the death 
of King Martin of Aragon in 1410, who bequeathed 
to his niece the whole of his private fortune. This 
event, however, added to the Queen's anxieties, for 
she was not the sort of woman to allow the royal 
succession to pass for ever unchallenged. La Justicia 
Mayor of the State of Aragon assembled at the 
ancient royal castle of Alcaniz to receive the names 
and to adjudicate the claims of candidates for the 
vacant throne. Yolande, still styling herself " Queen 
of Aragon," was represented by Louis, Duke of 
Bourbon, and Antoine, Count of Vendome. Her 



YOLANDA D'ARRAGONA 63 

claim was not immediately for herself, but for her 
son Louis. Two years were spent in acrimonious 
deliberations, butthe provisions of the Salic Law 
penalized the female descent, and consequently the 
next male heir, Prince Ferdinand of Castile, placed 
the crown of Aragon upon his head as well as that 
of Castile. Queen Yolande had to be content with 
her protest and her titular sovereignty. 

Back at Angers in 1413, the Queen conceived a 
notable future for her nine - years - old daughter, 
Marie. Of the six sons of Charles VI. of France 
and Isabeau, only one survived, the fifth - born, 
Charles. The imperious Bavarian Queen had little 
or none of Queen Yolande's fondness for her 
offspring ; they were born, alas ! put out to nurse, 
forgotten, and neglected — so they died. Upon the 
little Prince — the cherished jewel of his father — 
Queen Yolande fixed her motherly regard. He was 
a year older than her Marie, and a piteous little 
object bereft of a mother's love and solicitude. 
Yolande's warm heart yearned towards the lonely 
child ; she would mother him, she would train him, 
and then she would marry him to Marie — this was 
the Queen's dream. 

With that promptitude which marked all her 
well-considered actions, Queen Yolande set about 
the realization of her castle in the air. She again 
packed up herself, her children, and her Court, and 
took up her abode in the Chateau de Mehun-sur- 
Yevre, near Bourges, a favourite residence of the 
French Court. Among her little ones was a baby- 
girl, no more than six months old — Yolande, her 
own name-child. She gave as her reason for so 
strange a line of conduct her wish for greater facilities 

5 



64 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

in the education of her children. Charles VI. offered 
no objection to the residence of such a worthy mother 
and heroine wife in his own neighbourhood ; indeed, 
he regarded her advent with considerable pleasure 
and satisfaction. Yolande's influence for good would 
outweigh Isabeau's for evil ; besides, she would be 
a trusty counsellor. 

Queen Yolande had not been very long established 
at Mehun before she put in a plea on behalf of the 
poor little heir to the throne of France. Charles 
was thankful, he was delighted, and at once gave 
into her sole charge, untrammelled in any way, his 
dear little son, to share the home care and the 
studies of his two young cousins, Louis and Rene" 
d'Anjou. Having obtained the charge of the little 
Count de Ponthieu, Queen Yolande once more went 
home to Angers, by no means embarrassed by the 
fact that she had assumed the training of two Kings, 
Louis and Charles, with Rene a possible King of 
Aragon besides. 

For two years Charles passed for Yolande's son, 
the playmate and boy-lover of her sweet Marie. All 
his inspirations and his examples he took from her 
and them — at last a happy boy, with a hopeful 
future. The Queen allowed that future no halting 
steps ; Charles and Marie should be betrothed, and 
Mary should be Queen of France ! Yolande broached 
the subject to King Charles, and at once gained 
his cordial consent, but tactfully she left to him the 
furthering of the project. Upon December 18, 1415, 
Charles of France and Marie of Sicily- Anjou were 
jDrivately affianced in the Royal Chapel of the Castle 
of Bourges. France was in the throes of revolution 
and dissolution ; the terrible defeat at Azincourt, on 



YOLANDA D'ARRAGONA 65 

October 24 that same year, had paralyzed the 
military power of the French States, and was the 
ultimate cause of King Charles's insanity. For 
seven years he became a fugitive, not only bereft 
of reason, but of all resources. Queen Isabeau did 
nothing to relieve the tension, but maintained her 
irreconcilable position, and continued her ill-living. 
The King's only brother, the lamented Duke of 
Orleans, had been assassinated eight years before, 
and there appeared to be no one capable of steering 
the ship of State into a calm haven. 

This was Queen Yolande's opportunity, and she 
rose to its height majestically. She was already 
guardian of the Dauphin, who after his espousal 
returned with his child-bride to Angers. Now she 
assumed the general direction of affairs, and became 
virtually Regent of France and the arbiter of her 
destiny. She personally approached the English 
King, and obtained from him favourable terms of 
peace, which assured tranquillity and regeneration for 
France. She it was who proposed to Henry his 
alliance with her young goddaughter, Catherine, 
the youngest child of Charles VI. and Isabeau, then 
fourteen years of age. He was twenty-eight, and 
the marriage was consummated five years later, 
although Henry's terms included the payment of the 
arrears of the ransom of King John the " Good," the 
prisoner of Poitiers, a sum of 2,000,000 crowns. 

The Queen's judgment and resourcefulness emin- 
ently merited the grudging encomium of the wife of 
her husband's fiercest rival, the Duchess of Bur- 
gundy. " I am always glad," she said, " when it is 
a good woman who governs, for then all good men 
follow her !" 



66 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

All this time, — a time fraught with infinite issues, — 
King Louis II. of Sicily-Anjou was in Italy, meeting 
in his campaign with varied fortune. He had all 
he could do to hold his own, but his presence at the 
head of his army was essential to ultimate success. 
Three times he entered Naples acclaimed as King, for 
Queen Giovanna II. had named him so. Three times 
he fled discomfited after victory, which he failed 
to follow up. He rarely returned to his French 
dominions, and really he had no necessity so to do 
on the score of administration, for his beloved and 
capable Lieutenant-General was perfectly able to 
keep everything in order and uphold his authority. 
At last the King of Sicily-Anjou and Naples re- 
turned to Angers a broken and an ailing man, to 
spend what time Providence would still grant him 
with his devoted noble wife. 

Queen Yolande's first great grief came to her in 
1417, when her faithful husband was taken from 
her. Happily for them both, they were united at 
the deathbed — consoling and consoled. He was 
young to die — barely forty years of age — but ripe 
enough for the greedy grasp of Death. Louis II. 'a 
fame was that of a " loyal Sovereign, a righteous 
man, a true spouse, and an affectionate father." 



CHAPTER III 

YOLANDA D'ARRAGONA " A GOOD MOTHER AND A 

great queen " — continued 

I. 

A royal corpse reposed upon the state tester bed- 
stead within the great Hall of Audiences in the 
enceinte of the Castle of Angers, and a royal widow 
knelt humbly at a prie-dieu at his feet. It was late 
in the evening of that sweet April day, — half sun, 
half shower, — that the body of Louis II., King of 
Sicily, Naples, Jerusalem, and Anjou, was ceremoni- 
ally displayed, flanked by huge yellow wax candles in 
chiselled sticks of Gerona brasswork. The tapestried 
walls of this chapelle ardente were covered with sable 
cloth sewn with silver lilies and hung with great 
garlands of yew. The head of the lamented Sove- 
reign reposed upon a soft cushion of blue velvet, put 
there by the widow herself. Upon his breast, with 
its pectoral cross, was his favourite " Livre des 
Henres," one of the famous treasures of the collection 
of King John the " Good," his grandfather. 

In her black velvet diajjelle, with its close gauze 
veil concealing her beautiful hair, and attired in 
sombre black, unrelieved, the devotional figure, sorrow- 
ful and brave, was none other than " Good " Queen 

67 



68 REN^ D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

Yolande. Her right hand rested consolingly upon 
the shoulder of her eldest son, now Louis III., a 
well-grown stripling of fourteen. Around his neck 
his mother had but just hung the chain and medallion 
of sovereignty, taken tenderly from her dead spouse. 
Behind them knelt Prince Rene and Princess Marie, 
the fondest of playmates, weeping bitterly, poor 
children ! The vast hall was filled with courtiers, 
soldiers, citizens, all manifesting signs of woe and 
regret. The royal obsequies were conducted mag- 
nificently, under the personal direction of the Queen, 
within the choir of the Cathedral of St. Maurice. 
Feuds of rival Sovereigns, operations against the 
foreign foe, quarrels of fault-finders, and the like, 
were all hushed in the presence of the King of 
Terrors. To Angers thronged royal guests and 
simple folk to pay their last tributes of respect and 
devotion. In state, King Charles VI. started to 
tender his homage to the dead, but, struck down 
with sudden illness at Orleans, he requested Queen 
Isabeau to take his place. Burial rites were not 
much in that giddy woman's way, and her hard 
heart had no room for sympathy and condolence ; so 
the " Scourge of France," as she was called, gave 
Angers a wide berth. 

The Angevine royal children were five in number, 
and Louis left besides a natural son, — Louis de 
Maine, Seigneur de Mezieres, — and a natural 
daughter, — Blanche, — whom Rene, when he attained 
his father's throne in 1434, married to the Sieur 
Pierre de Biege. The defunct King's will appointed 
four simple knights, — his henchmen true, — executors : 
Pierre de Beauvais and Guy de Laval for Anjou, and 
Barthelemy and Gabriel de Valorey for Provence, 




KING LOUIS OF SICILY-ANJOU 

(king rene's father) 

From Coloured Glass Window, Le Mans Cathedral 



To face page 6S 



YOLANDA DARRAGONA 69 

with Hardoyn de Bueil, Bishop of Angers, as 
moderator. The Queen - mother was constituted 
Regent of the kingdoms and dominions and guardian 
of the young King, whilst Prince Rene was com- 
mended, under his father's will, to the charge of his 
great-uncle Louis, Cardinal and Duke de Bar, with 
the family title of Comte de Guise. 

The loss of her second son and the parting of the 
brothers was a sore trial to the whole family. The 
Cardinal, however, insisted upon his young nephew 
being sent to him at Bar-le-Duc, to be educated under 
his eye and prepared for his destiny as future Duke of 
Bar, which the Cardinal caused to be announced both 
in Anjou and Barrois. Louis de Bar was a very 
distinguished ecclesiastic ; he had passed through 
every grade of Holy Order with rare distinction. In 
1391 the Pope conferred upon him the bishopric of 
Poitiers, and two years later translated him to 
Langres, with the Sees also of Chalons and Verdun. 
The latter dignity carried with it the degree of 
Grand Peer of France, and in those days Bishops 
were regarded as temporal Sovereigns within the 
jurisdiction of their Sees. Benedict XIII. in 1397 
preconized Louis de Bar Cardinal-Bishop, and 
named him Papal Legate in France and Germany. 
His temporal honours as Duke of Bar came to him 
in 1415, after the calamitous battle of Azincourt, in 
which his two elder brothers, Edouard and Jehan, 
fell gloriously. Their untimely deaths and disasters 
keen and sad brought about, too, the death of good 
Duke Robert, their father. He died of a broken 
heart, whilst Duchess Marie shut herself up in a 
convent, and was never known again to smile. Her 
death has not been recorded. 



70 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

After bidding adieu to her dearly loved son, — 
perhaps her favourite child, and most like herself in 
temperament and character, — Queen Yolande, with 
the young King, was fully occupied in receiving 
addresses of condolence and assurances of loyalty both 
at Angers and at Aix, to which they made a progress 
in full state. She assumed the personal direction of 
affairs, appointing tactfully as assessors the most 
prominent men of all classes in both domains. In a 
very distinct sense she was a democratic Sovereign, 
and under her regime the Estates were allowed a 
good deal of independent action in matters, at least, 
of local policy. Thus, by maintaining the dignity of 
the crown of Sicily- Anjou-Provence and encouraging 
popular government, Queen Yolande initiated the 
first free constitution in the history of all France. 

The stability of the throne and the welfare of its 
subjects having been secured, the Queen turned her 
attention to the matrimonial prospect of her eldest 
son. Some years before King Louis's death, Jean 
" sans Peur," Duke of Burgundy, — in days when the 
Courts of Angers and Dijon saw eye to eye, and the 
States were not rivals in the direction of the general 
policy of the French Sovereigns,— had confided his 
little daughter Catherine to the charge of the eminent 
Queen of Sicily- Anjou, to be brought up with her 
own girls, the Princesses Marie and Yolande. Then 
the idea of the betrothal of Louis d'Anjou and 
Catherine de Bourgogne was accepted as a very 
excellent mutual arrangement ; indeed, the Duke had 
named his intention of dowering the Princess with 
50,000 limes tournois ( == circa £30,000), besides 
placing the castle at the disposal of the young couple 
upon the consummation of the marriage. 



YOLANDA DARRAGONA 71 

There had arisen coolness and suspicion between 
the Sovereigns of France and the Duke of Burgundy, 
whose connection with the assassination of the Duke 
of Orleans, in 1407, had never been cleared up. The 
Duke, moreover, had seen good, — in view of his 
professed claims to the crown of France, — to make 
terms with the King of England which would, under 
certain circumstances, gain territorial aggrandizement 
for Burgundy, and ultimately the reversion to his 
family of the royal title. This rapprochement with 
the hated invader of Northern France, — the foe at the 
gates of Anjou, — lead summarily to the renunciation 
by the Angevine Sovereigns of all matrimonial 
affinities between the Houses of Anjou and Burgundy. 
Little Princess Catherine was sent home to Dijon, 
and the Duke scouted the Anjou alliance, and made 
terms with Lorraine, a step which in another decade 
told disastrously against the son of Queen Yolande. 

She, on the other hand, cared very little for the 
change of front of Duke Jean " sans Peur." Her 
mind had all along been made up in the matter of her 
son's betrothal, and her eyes were turned to Brittany, 
whose Sovereigns were the most stable and the most 
powerful in France. The dual crown of Sicily- 
Anjou was rich, and the prospects of the new 
occupant of that throne with respect to Naples, and 
possibly to Aragon, were of the highest ; consequently 
the matrimonial market was absolutely at her com- 
mand. Politically it was clear that an alliance of 
Anjou and Brittany would more than balance that 
of Burgundy and Lorraine. Very tactfully the 
Angevine Queen-mother caused her " cousin " at 
Nantes to know that a nuptial arrangement between 
her son and a daughter of Duke Jean VI. would 



72 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

be favourably considered at Angers. To pave the 
way more auspiciously, splended fetes were organized 
at the castle, to which the ducal family of Brittany 
were invited as principal guests of honour. The 
Duke and Duchess were acccompanied by their 
young daughter, Princess Isabelle, and were greatly 
affected by their reception. In the tournaments, 
pageants, and floral games, the young Bretagne 
Princes gained all the laurels, whilst the blushing 
Princess, as the " Queen of Beauty," bestowed the 
prizes upon the victors. 

On July 3 a royal function in the Cathedral of 
Angers brought the fetes to an auspicious finish, for 
there Louis d'Anjou and Isabelle de Bretagne were 
formally espoused, the young couple being of the 
same age. Alas for the hopes of all concerned ! the 
Princess, — a very beautiful and an accomplished girl, 
— was not destined to wear the Queen-consort's crown 
of Sicily-Anjou. Before the year was out she 
sickened of plague, — as captious critics said, caught 
in " Black Angers," — and died. This was a serious 
blow to Queen Yolande's diplomacy, but she was 
not the sort of woman to waste time in unprofitable 
lamentations. 

By the force of circumstances, seen and unseen, 
the Queen-mother's search for favourable alliances 
and an eligible consort for her son was greatly aided 
by the fresh aggression of the English under Henry V. 
In face of the common danger, which threatened 
alike the western and the eastern States of France, 
Queen Yolande found her opportunity of immensely 
strengthening the position of her son's dominions by 
detaching Burgundy and Lorraine from the English 
alliance. At Saumur she signed the articles of a 



YOLANDA TARRAGONA 73 

defensive and offensive treaty between the four great 
duchies, — Bretagne, of course, being one, — La Ligue 
de Quatre, it was called. 

Next to the assurance of political security at 
home, this instrument set the astute Queen free to 
turn her attention to the support of her son's claims 
to the throne of Naples. First appertaining to the 
older line of Anjou in the person and descendants 
of Jehan, brother of St. Louis, they had lapsed 
until King Louis I. of Sicily- Anjou asserted his right 
as head of the younger line of Anjou in virtue of the 
grant by his father, King John the " Good." These 
prerogatives, alas ! Louis II. had lost the year he 
died, and their reacquisition was the destiny of his 
son. In furtherance of these duties, Queen Yolande 
conceived that an Italian alliance, with the corollary 
of a matrimonial contract for the young King, were 
indicated, and she set to work to elaborate a scheme 
which should achieve the ends in view. 

In September, 1418, Queen Yolande opened 
negotiations directly with Amadeo VIII., Duke of 
Savoy, first for his assistance in the field of battle, and 
next for the betrothal of his daughter Margherita, 
then an infant of three years old. A treaty was 
signed on October 18, wherein the Duke agreed to 
receive young King Louis in Savoy, and either 
personally to accompany him through the proposed 
campaign, or at least to see his embarkation at 
Genoa at the head of a Savoyard contingent of ten 
thousand men-at-arms, for the recovery of the crown 
of Naples. One clause ceded the county of Nice to 
Savoy in lieu of moneys borrowed by Louis II. for 
his Naples expedition. Appended to this treaty was 
the marriage contract, which appointed Chambery, — 



74 REN^ D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

the capital of Savoy, — as the place, and Lady Day 
the following year as the date, for the formal espousal 
of Louis and Margherita. 

Steps were at once taken for the young King to 
enter upon his expedition in a manner suited to his 
rank and commensurate with the military movements 
of the time. Angers once more resounded to the 
metallic music of armourers. A Guild of Sword- 
Cutlers was incorporated, and skilled craftsmen 
from Aragon were again welcomed by the Queen. 
Masters of Arms, too, were invited to give Louis 
the best instruction in warlike exercises, Yolande 
herself meanwhile inculcating lessons of hardihood, 
chivalry, and patriotism. Hers, happily, was the 
satisfaction of knowing that these efforts were 
productive of the best results, for the youthful 
Sovereign quickly became an expert and an en- 
thusiast. 

It does not appear that the young King took 
much interest in the matrimonial part of the nego- 
tiations. An unripe boy of sixteen would naturally 
be very much more affected by military prowess than 
by uxorious daintiness. The service of Mars was 
very much more to his liking than that of Venus, 
and he addressed himself zealously to the task of 
winning back his grandfather's crown and sceptre, 
which his father had failed to retain. It was doubt- 
less a daring enterprise for a youth to undertake, 
but we may be quite sure that he inherited not 
a little of his family's well known fearlessness. 
Province was denuded of her garrisons, and Languedoc 
also ; but no men could be spared from Anjou and 
Bar, and it was but the nucleus of an army which 
Queen Yolande reviewed at Marseilles, whither she 



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COMMUNION OF A KNIGHT 
Sculpture from Interior, Western Facade, Reims Cathedral 



To face page 74 



YOLANDA TARRAGONA 75 

went to bid adieu to her dearly loved son upon his 
adventurous career. 

Louis sailed for Genoa, where he met the Duke of 
Savoy and took command of his contingent. He 
anchored in the Bay of Naples on August 15, 1420, 
a day full of favourable omens. On the voyage he 
fell in with the fleet of the King of Aragon, his rival 
for the crown of Naples, and worsted it. At once he 
went off to Aversa, where the Queen of Naples, 
Giovanna II., received him with open arms. His 
naivete delighted her, jaded as she was with the 
attentions of willing and unwilling aspirants for her 
favours. She created him Duke of Calabria, and 
proclaimed him her heir in lieu of the defeated and 
discredited Alfonso. 

It was a perilous position for the vigorous and 
gallant stripling Prince, but the counsels of his 
virtuous mother were not thrown away. The young 
King refused the amorous royal overtures success- 
fully, and having kissed the Queen's hand, he offered 
a plausible excuse, and speedily took his departure for 
Rome. The Supreme Pontiff extended to the 
youthful hero his paternal benediction, and detained 
him at the Vatican just long enough to invest him 
with the title of King of Naples, in place, as His Holi- 
ness wished, of the worthless and abandoned Queen. 
Thence Louis travelled on to Florence and Milan, 
and obtained promises of substantial assistance from 
their rulers against the pretensions of the King of 
Aragon. 

But to return to Anjou and the " good mother " 
there, the anxious and busy Queen Yolande. 

The Revue Numisrnatique du Maine contains 
many paragraphs recounting the Queen's prudence 



76 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

and activity in military matters. Under date June 1 0, 
1418, for example, she issued an order to the 
Seneschal and Treasurer of Provence " to reimburse 
one Jehan Crepin, keeper of the Castle of Forcalquier, 
whence one of the sovereign titles are taken, the 
advance made by him for the reparation of the said 
castle." On February 18, 1419, the States of 
Provence assembled at Aix besought the Queen, as 
head of the State, " to suppress the tax which had 
been levied upon the circulation of foreign money, 
with a view to greater facilities being accorded for 
the payment of sums required for the defence of the 
country." A few years later, — in 1427, — the authori- 
ties of the city of Marseilles prayed the Queen, then 
at Tarascon, to authorize them to impose a poll-tax 
upon all foreign merchants in the port, " so that the 
funds at their command might be enlarged, for the 
express purpose of fitting out vessels of war." The 
inhabitants of Martignes, which county Yolande had 
brought, on her marriage, to the possessions of her 
husband, — on December 20, 1419, — sought for their 
Queen-Countess, as ruler and administrator, the right 
to retain certain dues on the production of salt for the 
defence of their coast-line. There are very many 
such entries in the State papers of the reign ; indeed, 
both before and after the departure of Louis III. for 
Naples, Queen Yolande was recognized as responsible 
ruler for her son. 

II. 

If Louis's matrimonial prospects were somewhat 
clouded by the extreme youth of his child-bride, 
the Queen was by no means discouraged in her 
policy of influential alliances. Her second son, Rene\ 



YOLANDA TARRAGONA 77 

who had won all hearts in Barrois, was actually 
married to Princess Isabelle of Lorraine in 1420, 
although she was no more than nine years old, and he 
but twelve. This match was, however, not wholly 
the work of Queen Yolande ; her ideas, however, 
were those which impelled her uncle, Cardinal Louis 
de Bar, directly to ask the hand of the juvenile 
Princess. 

The year before this precocious marriage the 
Cardinal had formally proclaimed Rene his heir to 
the duchy of Bar, and created him Marquis of 
Pont-a-Mousson. This action greatly displeased 
Arnould, Duke of Berg, whose wife was Marie de 
Bar, a sister of the Cardinal. She preferred claims 
to the succession as next of kin to her brother, and 
when she was refused, the Duke took up arms and 
advanced upon Bar-le-Duc. The movement failed, 
and young Rene saw the Duke's dead body taken 
away for burial without emotion. The young Prince 
had been for nearly two years residing at his great- 
uncle's castle, under his immediate care and instruc- 
tion. Among the tutors chosen for his training w T ere 
Maestre Jehan de Proviesey, a grammarian and 
Latinist, and Maestre Antoine de la Salle, poet and 
musician. Such instructors were de rigueur, of 
course, for the true development of a perfect gentle- 
man and courtier. The latter master wrote a treatise 
entitled " Les quinze joyes de la manage : instructions 
addresses aux jeunes liommesr This he dedicated to 
his pupil, Prince Rend. Among the quaint aphorisms 
it contains, this must have caused more than a smile 
on the part of the young knight : 

"Bon cheval, mauvais cheval, veut Vesperon; 
Bonne femme, mauvaise femme, veut It baston /" 



78 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

Perhaps the pith of the treatise is expressed in the 
neat quintet : 

" Quattuor sunt que mulieres summe cupiunt, 
A formis amari juvenibus, 
Pottere fillis pluribus 
Ornari preciosis vestibus 
Et dominari pre ceteris in domibus." 

Rene's time was, however, not wholly absorbed by 
his studies in school and Court, for he bestrode his 
warhorse like a man, and rode forth by his great- 
uncle's side on punitive expeditions against recalci- 
trant vassals and against the incursions of freebooters, 
who under the designation of " Soudoyers " were de- 
vastating the duchy. It was said of the Cardinal : 
" II savait au besoin porter ung bassinet pour mitre 
et pour croix oVor un tache oVacier !" 

Directly Duke Robert died, and the succession fell 
to an ecclesiastic, the dissatisfied subjects of the 
Barrois crown considered it a favourable opportunity 
for throwing off their allegiance. Jean de Luxem- 
bourg, a cousin of the widowed Duchess Marie, and 
Robert de Sarrebouche, — at the extreme limits of the 
territories of the duchy, — were perhaps the most 
conspicuous for their infidelity. The Cardinal-Duke 
struck home at once, and both rebels surrendered. 
In the case of the latter, Prince Rene was put for- 
ward to receive his submission, on his great-uncle's 
behalf. The " proud Sieur de Commercy," as he was 
called, was compelled to kneel in the market-place of 
Commercy before the boy-knight, and, putting his 
great hands between the tender palms of his Prince, 
obliged to swear as vostre homme et vostre vassail ! 
The Prince's bearing in this his first military cam- 
paign was beyond all praise, and the Cardinal was 



YOLANDA D'ARRAGONA 79 

delighted with his chivalry. The Duke of Lorraine 
sent to compliment him upon his courage, and his 
doting mother, Queen Yolande, held a ten - days 
festival at Angers, and rang all the church bells in 
honour of her son's baptism of blood. 

These exploits caused the youthful hero to carry 
himself proudly, and greatly increased his self-conceit. 
This latter development had an amusing and yet a 
very natural sequel. The Prince with his own hand, 
under the instruction of Maestre Jehan de Proviesey, 
wrote letters to all the leading men of Angers, Pro- 
vence, Barrois, and Lorraine, in which he enlarged 
upon the boldness of his conduct ; and inditing sen- 
tentious maxims, he sought their approbation and 
good-will. The Cardinal-Duke doubtless smiled good- 
humouredly at these juvenile effusions, but at the 
same time he reconstituted the Barrois knightly 
" Ordre de la Fidelite" which embraced as members 
all the young French Princes, and created Rene de 
Bar, as he was now called, first and principal Knight. 
The Prince henceforward wore the motto of his Order 
embroidered upon his berretta and chimere — " Tout 
Ung " — and chose it as his gage de guerre. 

Louis de Bar had, however, other duties and 

pursuits to place before his favourite nephew. At 

the Court of Dijon resided two famous Flemish 

painters, brothers — Hubert and Jehan Van Eyck, 

pensioners of the enlightened Duke of Burgundy. 

By means of bribes and other influences brought to 

bear, they were induced to remove to Bar-le-Duc, 

and with them came Petrus Christus and other 

pupils. Keen patron of the arts and crafts, the 

Cardinal-Duke encouraged his principal courtiers and 

vassals to send their sons to them for instruction in 

6 



80 rene d^njou and his seven queens 

the art of painting. The first pupil enrolled in 
Barrois upon the books of the Van Eycks was none 
other than Prince Rene, and no pupil showed greater 
talent and greater perseverance. His uncle once said 
to him : " Rene, if thou wast not destined to succeed 
me as Duke of Bar and leader of her armies, I would 
make of thee an artist." In his veins, we must 
remember, ran Flemish blood, — his famous and 
talented ancestress, the Countess-Princess Iolande, 
came from Flanders, — and these excellent pigment 
masters appear to have stirred qualities in the young 
Prince which eventually proclaimed him the foremost 
royal artist in Europe. 

The Cardinal also inculcated in his nephew the love 
and taste for objects of beauty. He was himself a 
proficient in the craft of goldsmithery, and, more- 
over, possessed a very magnificent collection of gold 
and silver work. Part of this had come to him from 
her mother, Duchess Marie of France, who took to 
Bar her share of her father's treasures, the good King 
John. Of these, the Cardinal presented to Pope 
John XXIII. in 1414 a writing-table made of cedar, 
covered with plates of solid gold, and the superb gold 
chalice and paten which are still used in the Papal 
chapel at Rome at special Masses by His Holiness 
himself. Another precious goblet, mounted with 
sapphires and rubies, was bequeathed to the Car- 
dinal's sister, the Princess Bonne, Countess of Ligny. 

The ducal gardens at Bar-le-Duc were famous. 
The Cardinal sent to Italy for skilled gardeners, who 
reproduced something of the terrestrial glories of that 
favoured land. Tuscan sculptors and Venetian decora- 
tive painters followed in the wake of the gardeners, 
who not only designed architectural terraces with 






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< f* $ 



YOLANDA D'ARRAGONA 81 

marble statues and garden-pavilions with painted 
ceilings, but also designed and minted medals and 
plaques of the Cardinal, Prince Rene, and other 
members of the family. Naturally, the young Heredi- 
tary Duke revelled in these graceful settings for the 
floral games and festive pastimes which made the 
Barrois Court, even in the absence of a reigning 
Duchess, the rendezvous of poets, gallants, and 
beauties. Here, too, the Prince's natural love for 
music had full play ; he became a poet and a trouba- 
dour " in little," if not in " great." In a very real 
kind of way Rene's training in the arts of war and in 
the arts of peace was the very same which made a 
Lorenzo de' Medici at Florence and a Francesco 
Sforza at Milan. 

Amid all these occupations, the Prince had few 
opportunities for visiting his birthplace, Angers, and 
his devoted mother there. Travelling was very 
insecure, and the Cardinal disparaged any expedition 
beyond the bounds of the duchy. Only one such 
visit is recorded, and that in 1422, when Rene took 
his absent brother's place to give away his favourite 
sister Marie to Charles VII. of France, and then 
Queen Yolande once more embraced her son. On 
the other hand, the Prince was permitted by his uncle 
to vigorously assist King Charles against Louis de 
Chalons, Prince of Orange, who was devastating 
Dauphine. In another direction the young warrior 
gained laurels also. Named protector of the city of 
Verdun, he destroyed the rebel castle of Renancourt 
and the fortresses of La Ferte, and hastened to the 
assistance of his kinsman, the Count of Ligny, at 
Baumont en Argonne. Guillaume de Flavy and 
Jehan de Mattaincourt surrendered, and Rene cleared 



82 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

the country of disaffected marauders and adven- 
turers. 

Charles V.'s speech at the siege of Metz one 
hundred years later might very well have fitted the 
youthful conqueror in Barrois : " Fortune is a 
woman : she favours only the young." 

Queen Yolande's eldest son, Louis III., was mean- 
while meeting with varying fortunes in Italy, but the 
slow progress of his campaign greatly chagrined his 
dauntless mother. She actually made up her mind 
to set out for Naples in person to try and turn the 
slow tide of victory into an overpowering flood ; but 
Anjou was too closely invested by the English for the 
realization of her project. Here, however, the Queen 
had her militant opportunity, for at the bloody battle 
of Bauge, — between La Fleche and Saumur, — in 
1421, the English were routed and so greatly dis- 
heartened that they evacuated all their strategic 
points within and around the duchy. That victory 
was gained directly by Queen Yolande, who com- 
manded in person, sitting astride a great white 
charger, clothed in steel and silver mail. Some years 
later King Rene built an imposing castle upon the 
heights overlooking the field of battle in memory of 
his mother's valour. 

The Queen's warlike ardour, however, received a 
check, for Queen Marie, driven with King Charles 
before the all-conquering English, escaped to Bourges, 
and there begged her mother to hasten to her side. 
She needed, not a mailed woman's fist, but the gentle 
hand of her good mother at her accouchement. Louis 
le Dauphin, her first-born, saw the light in the Arch- 
bishop's Palace on July 3, 1423. Those days were 
dark indeed for France, but a brilliant star was about 



YOLANDA TARRAGONA 83 

to rise above her eastern horizon. Towards the end 
of 142 8 strange reports began to spread all over the 
stricken country concerning a simple village maiden in 
far-off Champagne, to whom, in the obscure village of 
Domrerny, Divine visions had been vouchsafed. Her 
mission, it was stated, was nothing less than the 
deliverance of France and the coronation of King 
Charles at Reims. 

Nowhere did the mysterious tidings create greater 
interest than among the members of the Royal Families 
and Courts of Sicily-Anjou and France. When the 
news of Jeanne d' Arc's arrival with Duke Rene 
reached Angers, Queen Yolande set out at once for 
Chinon, that she might judge for herself of the girl 
and her mission. Very greatly struck was the Queen 
by the maid's youth, comeliness, and innocence. Her 
simple manners and unaffected devotion convinced 
Yolande that she had no adventuress to deal with. 
She conversed freely with her, and her simple narra- 
tive and fearless courage determined her to take the 
maid under her direct patronage. When it was 
proposed to inquire formally into Jeanne's character 
and mental bias, the Queen promptly allocated to her- 
self that duty. She called to her assistance three 
ladies of her Court of good repute. Jehan Pas- 
querelle has quaintly recorded this plenary council 
of matrons : " Fust icelle Pucelle baillee a la Royne 
de Cecile, mere cle la Royne, nostre souveraine, et a 
certaines dames d'estant avec elle, dont estoient les 
Dames de Gaucourt, de Fiennes, et de Treves" 
Another chronicler adds the name of Jeanne de 
Mortemar, wife of the Chancellor, Robert le Macon. 
Their verdict was a complete vindication of Jeanne's 
honour and sincerity. 



84 RENE D'ANJOU and his seven queens 

The tongue of slander had associated Rene and 
Jeanne in a liaison. The Court of Chinon was full 
of evil gossip, and the more ill-conditioned courtiers 
and hirelings, both men and women, revelled in com- 
promising insinuations and coarse jests. Queen 
Yolande determined once and for all to put an end 
to these baseless and foul rumours. She knew her 
son too well to doubt his honour, and now she 
pledged herself to defend that of the village maid. 
Several of the offenders were dismissed the service 
of the King, and warned to hold their tongue, unless 
they wished for condign punishment. 

History has done scant justice to Queen Yolande 
for the part she bore in the drama of Jeanne d'Arc. 
It was in a very great measure due to her that the 
maid's mission was carried out. Whilst Charles was 
dallying with his idle associates and procrastinating in 
his military measures, Yolande played the man. Her 
intrepid counsels and fearless insistence were the 
levers which moved his son-in-law's inertness. There 
is a story told that, when Queen Marie's gentle 
chiding had failed to rouse her desponding consort, 
Queen Yolande appeared before him clothed in full 
armour, and demanded why the King of France 
skulked in his castle ! 

" See, Charles," she said, " if you refuse to follow 
La Pucelle at once and do your duty to God and to 
your country, I will go forth as your lieutenant, and 
in person lead your army against the English. But 
shame to you to trust in a woman's arm rather than 
your own ! Rouse you like a man, and begone !" 

This emphatic order fairly called out Charles's 
manhood, roused, to be sure, by the mission of 
Jeanne d'Arc. Nothing excites a man more than a 



YOLANDA TARRAGONA 85 

woman's threats to take his place and do his work ; 
and many women can be as good as their word, and 
one of these was Yolande of Sicily- Anjou-Aragon. 

The noble patriotic Queen-mother, moreover, 
backed her stout words by actions firm. With that 
splendid unselfishness which marked her character, she 
raised a considerable sum of mone}^ by the sale of her 
jewellery and other precious possessions, and applied it, 
together with the substantial offerings of her devoted 
subjects, to the fitting out of a convoy of provisions 
and necessaries for the besieged garrison of Orleans. 
She also persuaded the University of Angers, which 
her late consort, Louis II., had founded in 1398, to 
vote a goodly sum of money towards the King's 
expenses. Charles, stirred by the gentleness of 
Jeanne and the vigour of Yolande, was no longer 
despondent. The Queen thankfully noted his con- 
fidence in his mysterious guide from Domremy, but 
she remained at Chinon until she had seen him 
and his equipage take boat upon the Loire. His 
last words to his mother-in-law were : " Yes, now I 
am on my way to Reims with Jeanne, my oracle, my 
Queen — ma Royne blanche : tons pour Dieu et la 
France /" Yolande then quietly returned to her castle 
at Angers, and Anjou once more greeted the King's 
guardian and the Lieutenant-General of his dominions. 

The decade had its consolations as well as its 
troubles, and among them Queen Yolande rejoiced 
at the births of vigorous grandchildren. To Queen 
Marie were born Princesses Jeanne and Yolande, as 
well as the Dauphin Louis ; and to Duke Rend, 
Jean, Louis, Nicholas, Yolande, and Marguerite, in 
lawful wedlock. The Queen-mother, too, had satis- 
faction in the less disturbed state of Barrois and 



86 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

Lorraine, of receiving at Angers her son Rene and 
his fair young wife Isabelle. He had added to the 
bays of victory the palms of peace, and his fame as 
an administrator of justice and charity was already 
spread abroad. 

The Cardinal-Duke Louis was ageing rapidly, and 
he executed his final testament whilst his nephew 
and niece were in Anjou. Everything was left to 
Rene, who had as much as he could do to get back 
to Bar-le-Duc in time to receive his uncle's last 
blessing and close his eyes in death. The dying 
Prince was at the Abbey of Varennes when he 
breathed his last, on February 15, 1431. Duke 
Rend was at once proclaimed his successor, and the 
Estates of Barrois did their homage heartily. The 
career of the young Duke had been developed under 
the approving eyes of his uncle's subjects, and his 
marriage with Isabelle de Lorraine had been 
immensely popular. The new reign opened, then, 
under the happiest auspices. 

Rene's future being thus amply provided for, — his 
hand was also on the throne of Lorraine, — Queen 
Yolande turned her attention to the settlement in 
life of her younger children — Yolande, just eighteen, 
and Charles, two years younger. For her daughter, 
whose espousal three years before to Jehan, Comte 
d'Alencon, had not led to marriage, the Queen 
sought once more an alliance with the House of 
Bretagne. The Duke's eldest son, Francois, Comte 
de Montfort, who had been first champion at the 
Angers tournament in 1417, was the chosen bride- 
groom. He, indeed, had seen and played with the 
Princess then, but she was a little child of five ; 
their betrothal, however, had been considered, and 




STREET SCENE IN AIX OF PROVENCE 

FOREGROUND : MIRACLE OF ST. MAX1ME 

From a Painting by Nicholas Froment (1475-76). Aix Cathedral 

To face page Si5 



YOLANDA TARRAGONA 87 

only hindered by the military exigencies of the time. 
The Prince was in person as handsome as could be, 
and talented, but his character was not one that 
Queen Yolande looked for in a son-in-law. More 
addicted to warlike deeds and the free licence of a 
soldier's calling, he had little taste for peaceful 
pursuits, and still less for the restrictions of family 
life. He was, like most Princes at the time, more or 
less of a debauche, and his fair fame was besmirched 
by sordid and licentious habits. Still, the Comte de 
Montfort stood for political advantages, and questions 
of character were counted of less importance. The 
royal nuptials were celebrated in due course at the 
Cathedral of St. Pierre at Nantes, the capital of 
Brittany, on July 1, 1431, in the presence of Queen 
Yolande and the Duke and Duchess of Barrois. 
Alas ! once more marriage proved a failure, for the 
year following the home-coming of the Count and 
Countess he was slain in a foray with the English, 
leaving his childless young widow to bewail her 
ill-luck alone. 

The marriage of Prince Charles d'Anjou was 
delayed many years, and his experience of the 
vicissitudes of Cupid's thraldom was almost identical 
with that of King Louis III., his elder brother. 
Affianced in 1431, at the same time as his sister 
Yolande, to a daughter of Guy, Count of Laval, 
his brother Rene's bosom friend, and one of Jeanne 
d' Arc's preux cavaliers, another Yolande, he broke 
off the match because the infant Princess, — she 
but three years old, — was " so plain and weak." 
" Besides," said he, " I will not wait twelve years 
for her." He was himself just seventeen. The 
baby-fiancee's mother was a Bretagne princess, 



88 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

Isabelle, a daughter of Queen Yolande's great ally, 
Duke Jehan VI. The young Prince had in his 
mind another amour, perhaps hardly in his heart ; 
but he had seen and admired, when assisting at the 
sacre of King Charles VII., his brother-in-law, at 
Reims, a Princess of Champagne, and, much against 
his mother's wish, he bespoke her for his own. They 
were betrothed at the ancient castle of Coucy, near 
Soissons, in 1435. This match, too, came to 
nothing, for the fair fiancee, Catherine, perished in 
the flames of her boudoir curtains, set on fire by 
accident, and left her young Prince of twenty-one free 
to step along the uncertain path of courtship once 
more. Such were some of the ups and downs of the 
Queen of Sicily- Anjou and of her family. 

The death of Charles II., Duke of Lorraine, on 
January 2 5, 1431, saw the reunion, — after a century 
or more apart, — of Bar and Lorraine under one 
Sovereign. Duke Rene and his Duchess Isabelle 
had resided more or less quietly for ten years at the 
Castle of Bar-le-Duc, and there the greater part of 
their family was born. Now they prepared to move to 
Nancy, but their way, which Duke Charles had, as 
he thought, secured, was barred, and Rene was called 
out to fight for his throne. Antoine, Comte de 
Vaudemont, Duke Charles's eldest nephew, thrust the 
provisions of the Salic Law in the new Duke's face, 
and drew his sword to enforce his action. Varied 
were the fortunes of the civil war, but at the Battle 
of Bulgneville Duke Rene was taken prisoner by 
Philippe, Duke of Burgundy, who supported his 
kinsman Vaudemont, and was kept in captivity for 
nearly three years. In vain Queen Yolande tried 
every expedient to set her son free. His captors 



YOLANDA TARRAGONA 89 

required his absolute renunciation of the duchy of 
Lorraine, and would accept no compromise. Then 
came another crushing blow. Louis III., King of 
Sicily, Naples, and Jerusalem, Duke of Anjou, and 
Count of Provence, died of fever at Cosenza, the 
capital of Calabria, on November 15, 1434, lamented 
alike by friend and foe. Queen Giovanna had in 
1424 created him Duke of Calabria, but many 
attributed his death, indeed, to poison administered 
by order of the Queen. Never was there a more 
gentle nor a braver Prince — " Vescarboucle de gentil- 
esse," he was styled in the annals of chivalry. His 
devoted mother, of course, was not with him ; she 
was broken-hearted at Marseilles. Cast down by 
grief unspeakable, the young Queen of Sicily- Anjou 
and Naples, Margherita, still a bride, was by his side 
to console his last hours. They had been married by 
proxy at Geneva, — not at Chambery, as arranged, — 
years before, but had sworn to each other recently in 
the Cathedral of Cosenza. Alas ! no son was left to 
succeed his father and cheer his mother's heart ; their 
only child, a little daughter, had survived her birth a 
short six weeks. 

Queen Giovanna, in spite of her iniquity in seeking 
to foist upon Rene d' Anjou and Bar a child not his 
nor hers, in all probability, but so acknowledged, 
made no opposition to his proclamation as King of 
Naples or the Two Sicilies. What an exquisite piece 
of irony it was, to be sure — a King proclaimed 
when fast bound in prison, a crayon for a sceptre in 
his hand, his crown a drab berretta ! Three devoted 
women, good and bad, supported the royal captive's 
prerogatives — three Queens indeed : Yolande was for 
Anjou and Provence, Isabelle for Barrois and 



90 RENE DANJOU and his seven queens 

Lorraine, and Giovanna for Naples and Sicily ; whilst 
a fourth, Queen Margherita, looked to the donjon of 
Dijon for clemency. It was said that a copy of King 
Rene's proclamation was fixed upon the portal of his 
prison in insolent derision. "Sic transit gloria mundi " 
might well have been penned beneath it. 

Upon King Rene's succession to the throne of 
Sicily-Anjou, Queen Yolande continued to act as his 
Lieutenant-General for Anjou and Provence, and left 
negotiations for his release to the young Queen- 
Duchess Isabelle, who was very much more favour- 
ably placed, and near at hand to serve the royal 
prisoner's interests. She spent most of her time in 
Anjou, but paid many visits to Marseilles, her 
favourite residence in Provence. She never crossed 
the Aragonese frontier ; she could have done so only 
as Queen-regnant, which of course was impossible. 
However, she named her grandson Jean, Duke of 
Calabria, King Rene's eldest son, as the heir to her 
ancestral claims. 

The Queen-mother's presence in Anjou was neces- 
sary in the interests of her daughter, Queen Marie of 
France, and she never relaxed her control of the 
policy of her royal son-in-law. At each accouche- 
ment of the French Queen her devoted mother 
assisted, and it was a long family of grandchildren she 
nursed upon her knee. Her succour in sickness, her 
stay in trouble, and her help in poverty, were im- 
measurably precious to the fugitive Sovereigns. In 
1437 Queen Yolande had the felicity also of receiving 
her son Rene, after his release from durance vile, in 
the Castle of Tine, near Saumur, and with him came 
Queen Isabelle and her children, — Prince Jean, the 
eldest, being a fine lad of eleven. It was a season of 



YOLANDA D'ARRAGONA 91 

universal rejoicing in Anjou, and the Queen-mother, 
laying aside her widow's chapelle and veil, entered 
whole-heartedly into the festivities. The most cheer- 
ing feature of the gaiety was due to the magnanimity 
of the Duke of Burgundy, who quite unexpectedly 
and unreservedly offered the crown of peace by pro- 
posing that Princess Marie, daughter of Charles I., 
Duke of Bourbon, his niece, should be affianced to the 
young Duke of Calabria. The ceremony of betrothal 
was duly celebrated in Angers Cathedral, the little 
bride being no more than seven years old. This was 
a great joy to the Queen-mother, and Rene and 
Isabelle were very happy, too. 

Again in 1440 the splendours of the Angevine 
Court were once more revived by the Queen-mother, 
when she welcomed right royally King Charles VII. 
and Queen Marie. It was by way of being a family 
gathering also, for King Rene and Queen Isabelle 
were of the party. It was a reunion remarkable in 
one way, as the introduction at Angers of the most 
lovely girl in France, in the suite of Queen Isabelle, — 
a girl destined to play a very important part in the 
private life of King Charles VII., — Agnes Sorel. 
The Queen-mother was charmed with her lovely 
young visitor, and never made any opposition to her 
appointment as Maid of Honour to Queen Marie. 
These festivities, however, were the last in which 
Queen Yolande took part. The sorrows she was 
called upon to bear and the anxieties of the life she 
lived had their natural effect even upon such an 
ardent and vigorous constitution as hers. Gradually 
she retired altogether from public life, and in 1441 
she took up her residence at Saumur. The castle was 
one of the strongest fortresses in France, and was one 



92 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

of the very few which held out successfully all through 
the Hundred Years' War. Originally called La 
Tour du Tronc, Count Foulques Nerra, Count of 
Anjou, in the tenth century gave it the appearance 
and stability which it subsequently retained. Queen 
Yolande placed her suite within the castle precincts, 
but she herself, putting on an oblate's habit, occupied 
for some time a house in the Faubourg des Ponts, 
where her privacy could be less easily disturbed. 
What remains, — and that, alas ! is very little, of this 
habitation, — is still called La Maison de la Reine 
Cicile (Sicily). In this humble abode Yolanda 
d'Arragona, " the great Queen," died quietly on 
December 14, 1443. 

Whether King Rene was present to close his 
beloved mother's eyes we know not, but it is signifi- 
cant of absence that the expense, — 500 livres, — 
of the Queen's obsequies was borne by her youngest 
son, Charles, Duke of Maine ; indeed, it is almost cer- 
tain that Rene was at Marseilles when he heard of his 
mother's death. In one of his " Livres des Heures " 
he inscribed: " Le 14 Decembre de Tan 1443 tres- 
passa au Chateau de Saumur Madame Yolande, 
fille de Roy a" Aragon et depuis mere de Roy Rene.'" 
The funeral ceremonies were celebrated by the Arch- 
bishop of Tours, her private chaplain, not at Saumur, 
but at Angers, in the Cathedral of St. Maurice, to 
which her remains were conveyed by night two days 
after her death. Her grave was that of her consort's, 
twenty-five years before, — in front of the high-altar, 
— -but all trace of it has disappeared, and explorations 
have failed to reveal her burial casket. 

It is eloquent of the irony of human affairs, that 
whereas no memorial, or even inscription, is left to 



YOLANDA TARRAGONA 93 

record the virtues of the royal mother of Anjou, in 
the Church of Notre Dame de Nantilly at Saumur 
there is a memorial to Mere Theophaine la Magine, 
the devoted nurse of King Rene and Queen Marie, 
who died March 13, 1458. The original monument, 
erected by the King, presented his faithful domestic 
holding him and Marie in her arms. This has been 
destroyed, but an epitaph still remains : 

" Cy gist la nourrice Thdophaine 
La Magine, qui ot grant paine 
A nourrie de let en enfance 
Marie d' Anjou, Royne de France, 
Et aprbs, sonfrere Bend, Due d' Anjou."* 

The only existent memorials to King Louis II. and 
Queen Yolande are to be seen in a stained-glass 
window in the Cathedral of St. Julien at Le Mans, 
the capital of Maine, one of the richest and most 
beautiful specimens of fifteenth - century glass in 
Europe. The royal couple are upon their knees, 
attired in conventional costumes, and bare-headed. 
Their youngest son, Charles of Anjou and Maine, is 
buried near that splendid window, an interesting and 
curious circumstance in the happenings of Providence. 
He died in 1474. All Anjou and Provence bewailed 
their Queen, her virtues, her benevolence, her piety, 
her loyalty. 

Yolande's claim to the title with which she has 
been honoured, " a good mother and a great Queen," 
needs no vindication. She was, in short, the most 
noble woman in all France during the first half of the 
fifteenth century. 

* " Here lies good nurse Theophaine 
La Magine, who at great pain 
Foster-mother'd in infancy 
Marie d' Anjou, Queen of France, 
And then Rene, Duke of Anjou." 



CHAPTER IV 

ISABELLE DE LORRAINE " THE PRIDE OF LORRAINE " 

I. 

Child-marriage was a distinguishing mark of the 
Renaissance, but its fashion in the Sovereign States 
of France was very much more commendable than its 
prototype in Italy. In the Italian republics it 
became a holocaust of immature maidens, condemned 
to untimely death through the perverted passions of 
worn-out men of middle age. In France the girl 
brides were mated with boy husbands, but cohabita- 
tion was regulated by the watch and will of guardians. 
In both countries, doubtless, the marriage contract 
was essentially a commercial undertaking, but in 
France it marked the attainment of political and 
dynastic aims. Sovereign families rarely allied their 
offspring out of the ruling class. At the same 
time the danger of conjugal union between indi- 
viduals nearly related was immeasurably increased. 
Indeed, such relationships were those most zealously 
cultivated by ambitious and exclusive rulers. The 
marriage of Rene d'Anjou and Isabelle de Lorraine 
was a striking and typical instance of this precocious 
marital custom. 

Isabelle, " the Pride of Lorraine,"— as she was 

94 




ISABELLE DE LORRAINE 
From a Miniature by King Rene, in " Le Livre des Heures " 



To face page <M 



ISABELLE DE LORRAINE 95 

acclaimed by her devoted subjects at the time of her 
betrothal, — was born at the Castle of Nancy, 
March 20, 1410. Her parents were Charles II., 
Duke of Lorraine, and his consort, Margaret of 
Bavaria. Charles himself was the eldest son of Jehan, 
Duke and Count of Lorraine, and Sophie, Princess of 
Wiirtemberg. Born in 1364, at Toul, — a free city 
of the German Empire and an ecclesiastical sover- 
eign see, — Charles succeeded his father in 1392. 
Originally a fief of the Holy Roman Empire, 
Lorraine was erected a kingdom by the Emperor 
Lothair, who styled himself " King and Baron of 
Lothairland." The first Prince to bear the ducal 
title was Adelebert, in 979, and that style descended 
unbroken through 500 years. 

The Duchess Margaret was the second daughter of 
the Emperor Robert III., Duke and Baron of Bavaria. 
She married Charles II. in 1393. To them were 
born eight children, but, alas ! Louis and Rodolphe 
died in infancy, Charles and Ferry before their 
majority, and Robert in 1419, unmarried, at twenty- 
two. Of their three daughters, Isabelle was the 
eldest. Marie became the wife of Engu errand de 
Coucy, Baron of Champagne and Lord of Soissons, 
a lineal descendant of the founder, in the thirteenth 
century, of the famous Chateau de Coucy, the most 
complete feudal fortress ever built, whose proud 
motto may still be seen on the donjon wall : 

" Roi je ne suis 
Prince ni Comte aussi : 
Je suis le Sire de Coucy." 

This union was childless Catherine, the third 
daughter, in 1426 married James, Marquis of 



96 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

Baden, Count Palatine of the Rhine and Elector. 
She renounced all claims to Lorraine. Their only 
child was a daughter. 

At the time of their marriage, Charles II. of 
Lorraine and Margaret of Bavaria were a model 
couple upon the principles of dissimilarity and contrast. 
The Duke, a soldier born, had made good his degree 
of knighthood ten years before, when, a mere strip- 
ling, he won his spurs fighting daringly by the side of 
his cousin, Philippe " le Hardi," Duke of Burgundy. 
With him he went on a punitive expedition against 
the pirates of the Barbary coast. At Rosebach, 
and especially at the tremendous battle of Azincourt, 
he did prodigies of valour. In Flanders and in 
Germany his ensign led on victorious troops. 
Charles's last military achievement was the rout 
of the Emperor Wenceslas under the very walls of 
Nancy. "No warrior loved fighting more than the 
Duke of Lorraine. Slightly to alter the text, he 
was one of those war-lords whom Shakespeare, in 
his " seven ages of man," says " sought reputation 
at the cannon's mouth." He yearned for the 
applause of gallant knights, both friends and foes ; 
he yielded himself amorously to the smiles and 
embraces of the fair sex, and he revelled in the 
praise and adulation of poets and minstrels. His 
mailed fist was ever toying with his trusty sword 
and grappling the chafing-reins of his charger ; his 
mailed foot was ever ready for the stirrup and to 
trample upon the head of a fallen foe. 

At the same time he was a gay and polished 
courtier, one of the most accomplished Princes in 
Europe. Fond of literature and poetry, he studied 
daily his Latin copy of the " Commentaries of 



ISABELLE DE LORRAINE 97 

Julius Caesar " and similar treatises. He had besides 
a taste for music, and was no mean exponent of the 
lute and guitar, and a friend of troubadours. 

On the other hand, the gentle, lovable Duchess 
was born for the cloister and for the worship of the 
Mass. Her bare feet were ever moving in penitential 
pilgrimages and religious processions, and her shapely 
hands were ever joined in prayer or divided in 
charity. Her passion was the submissive rule of 
Christ, her will the conquest of herself. 

Daring and devotion thus harnessed together 
rocked the family cradle, and insured for their off- 
spring the best of two worlds. Such a union was 
bound to be productive of genius and corrective of 
faults of heredity. What a bitter disappointment, 
then, it must have been for both the Duke and the 
Duchess when one after another their beauteous 
babes and adolescent sons dropped like blighted 
rosebuds from their young love's rosebush prema- 
turely into the cold, dark grave, leaving only the 
aroma of their sweet young lives to soothe their 
sorrowing parents ! 

Isabelle was the fairest daughter of the three. 
She inherited the force of character of her father 
and the pious disposition of her mother, and to these 
precious traits she joined a spirit of intelligence much 
in advance of her years as a growing girl. In short, 
she was remarkable " pour ses qualites de V esprit et 
du cceur" a description difficult to render into good 
English ; perhaps we may say she had her father's 
will and her mother's love. 

Many were the suitors for her hand, some for the 
pure love of beauty, grace, and spirit, but most with 
a view to the Duke-consortship in the future of rich 



98 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

Lorraine. The " Pride of Lorraine," indeed, served 
as an ever-reinforced magnet. She became remark- 
able for her loveliness of person, her animation of 
manner, and her distinguished carriage. The natural 
sweetness of her voice lent a gracious persuasiveness 
to her eloquence, which in later life proved invaluable 
in the recruiting of adherents to her husband's cause. 
High-souled and condescending, she brought her 
enemies to her feet, only to raise them her warmest 
friends. Talented beyond the average of Princesses, 
she had also the charm of winsome gaiety, and proved 
herself a worthy spouse and companion for her gallant 
and clever consort Rene. Tall, slim, fair-haired, 
blue-eyed, with a skin of satin softness, the " Pride 
of Lorraine " won all hearts and turned many a head. 
To Louis, Cardinal de Bar, was due the accom- 
plishment of an idea suggested by Queen Yolande 
with respect to the future of her second son, Rene 
d'Anjou. He had for ever so long been considering 
what steps he should take with respect to the succes- 
sion to the duchy. He of course, as an ecclesiastic, 
could have no legitimate offspring. His brothers had 
died childless, and only one of his sisters had male 
descendants, the grandsons of Violante de Bar, his 
own grand-nephews. In His Eminence's mind, too, 
was a project to reconstitute the ancient kingdom of 
Lothair by merging Barrois and Lorraine proper. 
Whilst Duke Charles II.'s young sons were living, 
the Cardinal looked to one of them as his heir ; and 
when they all drooped and died, he reflected whether 
or not he should name Charles as his successor. At 
this juncture his niece, the Queen of Sicily-Anjou, 
was busy looking out for brides for her two elder 
sons, Louis and Rene. For the former a Bretagne 



ISABELLE DE LORRAINE 99 

alliance was indicated ; for the latter a union with 
Lorraine — Burgundy for the time being out of the 
question — or Champagne seemed desirable. 

The Cardinal clinched the matter, and paid a visit 
to the Duke of Lorraine in furtherance of his project, 
which was the very natural and sensible one of 
marrying his nephew Rene with the Duke's eldest 
daughter Isabelle. Whether Charles had any ink- 
lings of the Cardinal's cogitations with relation to his 
own position with respect to Bar we know not ; but 
possibly he had, for he met the proposition with a 
direct refusal. He read to his relative two clauses of 
a will he had recently executed, which forbade his 
daughter Isabelle to marry a Prince of French origin, 
and especially barred the House of Anjou. This 
latter prohibition was inserted with reference to the 
rupture between Jean " sans Peur," the Duke of 
Burgundy, and Louis II., King of Sicily and Duke 
of Anjou, which resulted from the part the former 
had played in the assassination of the Duke of 
Orleans in 1407, and the consequent repudiation of 
the betrothal of Catherine de Bourgogne and Louis 
d' Anjou. Lorraine and Burgundy were in close 
alliance. 

The Cardinal, however, was not to be diverted 
from the course he had taken. He placed ten con- 
siderations before the Duke and his advisers : — ( 1 ) The 
advisability of reuniting the two portions of Lorraine ; 
(2) Charles's lack of male heirs ; (3) his own incom- 
petence in the same direction ; (4) his choice of his 
grand-nephew, Bene d'Anjou, as his successor at Bar- 
le-Duc ; (5) the attractive personality, mental attain- 
ments, and high courage of the young Prince ; (6) his 
descent from a Barrois-Lorraine Princess, Violante, 



100 rene d'anjou and his seven queens 

his sister ; (7) the risks of the application of the 
power of the Salic Law over his daughters ; (8) the 
equality of age of Rene and Isabelle ; (9) the wish of 
the late King and of the Queen of Sicily- Anjou for 
an alliance with Lorraine and a better understanding 
politically; (10) the welfare of the peoples of the 
two duchies and the love of the Lorrainers for their 
princely house. 

Charles asked time to consider these points, but 
meanwhile he summoned the Estates, and laid before 
them a proposition concerning the succession to Lor- 
raine at his death. He named his eldest daughter as 
Hereditary Duchess, and proposed that her consort 
should bear the title, and with her exercise the pre- 
rogatives, of Duke of Lorraine. A concordat was 
agreed to whereby the Estates were pledged to sup- 
port the Duchess Isabelle, and to carry out Charles's 
wishes. 

Queen Yolande had seconded her uncle's negotia- 
tions in a very womanly and sensible way. She 
communicated directly with good Duchess Margaret. 
She pointed out to her the mutual advantages of the 
marriage of the two children, and declared that such 
a union would heal the breach between the eastern 
and the western Sovereigns of France. Margaret, 
loving peace and holy things, was easily persuaded to 
reason with her husband ; she submitted absolutely 
to the overpowering personality of the Queen. With 
Charles, Yolande had a stiffer fight, but she gathered 
up her strength, and in the end, lusty warrior that he 
was, he yielded up his defence to the tactful diplomacy 
of the good mother of Anjou. Woman's wit once 
more, as it generally does, triumphed over man's 
obstinacy. 



ISABELLE DE LORRAINE 101 

Charles agreed to receive the young Prince, and 
judge for himself of his prepositions and qualifications. 
The result was beyond the Cardinal's expectation, for 
the Duke declared himself charmed with the boy. 
He was, he said, ready to rescind the prohibitory 
clauses of his will, but he made it a condition that he 
should have the personal and unrestricted guardian- 
ship of the boy until he reached the age of fifteen. 
He desired Rene to proceed at once to Angers to 
obtain Queen Yolande's consent to the matrimonial 
contract between himself and Princess Isabelle. 
Everything went merrily, like the marriage-bells 
which soon enough pealed forth all over Lorraine, 
Barrois, and Anjou, at the auspicious nuptials. The 
final arrangements were completed, and Rene and 
Isabelle were betrothed at the Castle of St. Mihiel, 
and on October 20, 1420, married at the Cathedral 
of Nancy by the Bishop of Toul, Henri de Ville, 
Duke Charles's cousin. Immediately before the 
wedding, Cardinal-Duke Louis caused a herald to 
proclaim publicly, in the market-place of Nancy, Rene 
d' Anjou, Comte de Guise, Hereditary Duke of Bar, 
with the ad interim title of Marquis of Pont-a- 
Mousson. 

The record of the marriage is thus entered in 
" Les CJironiques de Lorraine '■':■ " Les nopees furent 
faictes en grant triomphe, et la dicte jille mene'e a 
Bar moult honor ablement. Le Cardinal fust moult 
joyeulx." * The contract had been signed on March 
20, 1420, by the Duke and the Cardinal at the Chateau 
de Tourg, near Toul, Queen Yolande's signature 

* "The nuptials were celebrated with great ceremony, and the 
said Princess was conducted to Bar very honourably. The Cardinal 
was full of joy." 



102 RENE D 1 ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

being provided by her proxy. She granted to her 
son the right to quarter the arms of Bar and Lorraine 
with those of Anjou and Guise. 

On November 10 formal proclamation was made 
in every important town in Lorraine, to the effect 
that Duke Charles II. constituted his eldest daughter, 
now Duchess of Barrois and Countess of Guise, 
heiress to the duchy of Lorraine, and confirmed to 
her, and to her issue by Bene d' Anjou and Bar, full 
rights of succession and government. The procla- 
mation named Queen Yolande of Sicily - Anjou, 
Louis, Cardinal de Bar, and the Duke himself, 
Charles's guardians during the minority of the young 
couple. 

" Bene," wrote a chronicler, " is well-grown, well- 
bred, and well-looking. He is greatly admired by 
all the fair sex, and loves them in return. He will 
make a good husband, and has the making of a great 
Sovereign." The bride's praises were sung by poets 
and minstrels the length and breadth of Lorraine 
and Bar. 

Among the earliest to congratulate the young 
people and their parents was the redoubtable Duke 
of Burgundy ! He sent a special embassy to Nancy 
with this striking message : " Tous estoient si joyeulx 
de veoir la fervente et cordiale amour qui estoit entre 
ces deulx jeuns gens, que je me trouve capable des 
sentiments les plus amiables pour tous mes cousins 
royales. Je salue mes bons freres les Souverains Dues 
de Lorraine et Barrois avec Madame la Duchesse 
Marguerite, et sans autre choses la bonne Rogne de 
Cecile, son epous le Roy Louis, pour jamais" * 

* "Everybody was delighted to behold the fervent and cordial 
love which exists between the two young people, whilst I found 



ISABELLE DE LORRAINE 103 

This was as a jewel in the hair of Queen Yolande, 
and as nectar in the cup of Cardinal Louis. Their 
plans had succeeded splendidly. 

Shortly after his marriage, Rene returned to Bar- 
le-Duc with his child-bride, and they were received 
in royal state by the Cardinal, who had renovated 
and decorated the castle specially in their honour and 
for their use. The town of Ligny was causing trouble 
in Barrois by refusing to pay the accustomed tribute. 
The Prince de Ligny claimed that portion of the 
duchy of Bar as his, by the marriage contract of his 
wife, the Cardinal's sister. He attacked the Castle 
of Pierrepoint and the town of Briey, whose garrison 
he caused to be put to the sword. The Cardinal 
took arms, and, accompanied by Rene and companies 
of Lorraine soldiers from Longwy, defeated his 
relative and took him prisoner. The young Prince 
received the rebel's sword and personally conducted 
him to Nancy, where, after two years' confinement 
in the fortress, he signed an act of renunciation of his 
pretensions in Barrois. 

Rene, only twelve years old, the following year 
accompanied Charles II. of Lorraine to the siege 
of Toul, — for many years a turbulent element in his 
dominions, — where there was a hot dispute concern- 
ing certain laws and customs oppositive to the claims 
of the crown of Lorraine. Toul was captured, and 
mulcted in an annual tribute of a thousand livres. 

Directly the proclamation of Isabelle of Lorraine 
with Rene as the sharer of her throne was made, 

myself filled with the most amiable sentiments for all my royal 
cousins. I salute my good brothers the Sovereign Dukes of 
Lorraine and Barrois, and also the Duchess Margaret, and equally 
the good Queen of Sicily and her consort King Louis." 



104 RENE DANJOU and his seven queens 

Antoine de Vaudemont, Duke Charles's eldest 
nephew, entered a protest and claimed the succession. 
He based his action upon the three conditions — 

( 1 ) The Salic Law ruled the succession of Lorraine ; 

(2) the male line had not been broken since the 
creation of the duchy ; and (3) the realm had never 
gone out of the family. Charles scouted all these 
positions, affirmed his own sovereign right to name 
his successor, and refused to alter the terms of the 
proclamation so far as regarded the succession of his 
daughter and Duke Rene. 

All the church-bells in Barrois and Lorraine were 
again set jingling joyously when, in the ducal castle 
of Toul, on the morning of January 17, 1437, a 
young mother, — very young indeed, barely seventeen, 
— brought forth her firstborn — a beauteous boy, the 
image, as the mid wives said, of the boy-father, not 
yet nineteen. Church-bells, too, rang merrily all 
over Anjou and Provence when the glad tidings 
reached their borders that a male heir was born 
to the honours of Sicily- Anjou-Provence. Perhaps 
Rend and Isabelle were too young to realize what 
it all meant for France at large, but Queen Yolande 
understood well enough its tenor, and with her 
congratulations she greeted her first son's grandchild 
with the title of " Prince of Gerona," linking him 
ostentatiously with her hereditary rights in Aragon. 
Duke Charles, too, and Duchess Margaret were the 
happiest of grandparents, and baby Jean was created 
Comte de Nancy as future Duke. 

Charles's death was somewhat sudden and quite 
unexpected. Strong man that he was, King Death 
seemed to be a power not immediately to be feared. 
Rene was not at Nancy when the death-knell 



ISABELLE DE LORRAINE 105 

sounded, but news swiftly reached him, and he re- 
turned at once to the capital. Duchess Margaret, — 
despite her lamentations and her natural dislike to 
public appearance, — attired herself in full Court dress, 
the crown she rarely wore upon her head, and all the 
officials of the Court, the Government, and city, in 
her retinue, and hastened to the gate to welcome the 
new Duke of Lorraine. Before her carriage rode 
a number of lords and knights, who dismounted on 
the approach of Rene, and, saluting him deferentially, 
greeted him as " Vous estoit le nostre due /" The 
cry was taken up by all the gallant company, whilst 
Rene, having dismounted at the portal of St. George, 
took the sacred missal offered by the Dean into his 
hands, and swore then and there to respect and safe- 
guard the ancient liberties of the State and city. 

One of the quaintest of quaint observances fol- 
lowed, a custom peculiar to Lorraine. After re- 
ceiving the ecclesiastical blessing, the new Duke 
remounted his horse, and into his hand was placed the 
ancient altar cross called " Polluyon." He rode 
slowly through the city to St. Nicholas Gate, where 
he again dismounted, and gave his charger into the 
care of one of the canons, who took his place in the 
saddle and rode out of sight. This strange custom 
had been observed at all the public recognitions of 
new Dukes of Lorraine ever since its inception by 
Duke Raoul, in 1339. The Duke then returned on 
foot to St. George's, bearing still the jewelled cross. 
At the entrance the Bishop stood ready to administer 
the customary oaths and to accord the Papal bene- 
diction. This ceremony also was unique. The 
Bishop told him to face the assembly of his subjects 
at the four points of the compass, and to repeat at 



106 RENE D'ANJOU and his seven queens 

each the formula : " I take this oath before God and 
you willingly, and look to God for assistance, and 
to you for service." 

Then conducted to the castle in great circum- 
stance, amid the vociferous plaudits of the populace, 
— " Noel ! Noel /" they cried, — the Duke knelt and 
kissed the hand of Duchess Isabelle, who was waiting 
there, and presented her to the delirious citizens. 
" Vive le nostre Due ! Vive la nostre Duchesse /" rang 
through the city, and, caught up by the sculptured 
pinnacles and turrets of the cathedral, mingled 
harmoniously with the musical cadences of the bells, 
and so was wafted over all that fair and smiling land. 

Ren6, although but two-and-twenty, gave imme- 
diate evidence of wisdom beyond his years. His 
power to grasp and handle complex affairs of State, 
and his discrimination in matters of moment, proved 
the excellence of his grand-uncle's training. His 
personal appearance was all in his favour, and his 
graceful, well-set-up figure, his open countenance, his 
majestic manner, — ever ready to bend to circum- 
stances, — gained general admiration and confidence. 
His gracious, patient, and conciliatory bearing was 
remarkable. His modesty and absolute lack of 
presumption attracted the best men of all parties. 
His readiness to appoint a Council of State, with 
unusual freedom of deliberation and action, was only, 
perhaps, what might have been looked for from the 
son of the founder of the free Parliament of Provence 
in 1415. The new Duke set on foot movements for 
the amelioration of the condition of the poor, for the 
improvement of education, and for the rectification 
of the morals of the Court and city. One of his 
earliest edicts was for the suppression of blasphemy ; 




RENli D ANJOU 

(Circa 1440) 

Painted by himself " Le Livre des Heures 



To face page 10(5 



ISABELLE DE LORRAINE 107 

a first charge was punishable by the judge in the 
ordinary way, a second involved a heavy fine, a 
third obtained correction in the public pillory, and 
a fourth offence was purged only by the splitting 
of the tongue and rigorous imprisonment. 

In all these, and many similar acts of sapient 
policy, Duchess Isabelle bore her part in counsel and 
example ; her conduct was beyond all praise. The 
next move was a progress through every part of the 
two duchies. At each considerable town the royal 
cortege halted first of all that the Duke and Duchess 
might make their devotions in the principal church, 
and endow Masses and ecclesiastical grants. Then, 
assembling the officials and chief citizens, they 
inquired into the hardships of the people and 
encouraged local institutions, at each place leaving 
largesse for distribution. In strong places with 
garrisons, the Duke interested himself in re- 
dressing injuries and inequalities among the veterans. 
He offered to pay all the losses of officers in the 
wars ; he allowed eighteen sols for each horse killed 
in battle or on march ; he bestowed on each soldier 
a surcoat and steel helmet with his royal cognizance, 
and created many knights. Meanwhile Duchess 
Isabelle endeared herself to the womenfolk by con- 
soling words of sympathy and gracious doles of 
charity. Widows and orphans she took under her 
personal patronage, and no worthy claimant for her 
benevolence lacked favour and assistance. 

Thus Rene and Isabelle won, not only golden 
opinions, but the sincerest affection of their subjects, 
rich and poor. But a climax was put to the 
noble works of the kindly Sovereigns, and never came 
truer the saying ; " Providence ever destroys the 



108 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

good that men do." An evil genius appeared upon 
the peaceful scene when Antoine de Vaudemont 
refused to pay allegiance to the new Duke and 
Duchess. The moment of his declaration of hostility 
was as unfortunate as it was cruel. At the public 
baptism of Prince Jean, the Duke's eldest son, who 
had been privately baptized at his birth, in 1426-27, 
the Count entered the Cathedral of Nancy in full 
armour, and objected to the Duke of Calabria, — the 
title of the young boy, — being received by the 
Church as heir to the throne of Lorraine. 

The Duke immediately summoned him to appear 
before the Council of State, and also before a 
meeting of principal citizens, and there repeat his 
protest. By both assembles his pretensions were 
scouted unanimously. Sieur Jehan d'Haussonville, 
the Mayor, addressed the Count, and said : " Your 
uncle has left daughters ; the eldest, Isabelle, is 
Duchess of Lorraine. I salute you. You may go." 
Vaudemont left Nancy in a violent rage, crying out 
as he passed through the gateway of St. George : 
" I shall be Duke of Lorraine all the same, and 
soon, and then will I reckon with you dogs !" He 
posted off to Dijon, and there took counsel with the 
Duke of Burgundy. 

The body of Charles II. had scarcely been con- 
signed to its monumental tomb in the choir of St. 
Georges de Port at Nancy, when the Comte de 
Vaudemont revealed himself in his true colours. 
After his protest against the edict of the Duke 
which named Duke Bene of Barrois, the consort of 
the heiress to the throne, as his successor to the 
title of Duke of Lorraine, he had remained skulking 
in his castle, where he welcomed as many malcontents 



ISABELLE DE LORRAINE 109 

and disturbers of the peace as accepted his pre- 
tensions to the crown. The coronation of Duchess 
Isabelle was the signal for Vaudemont's attempt to 
vindicate his claim. He had hardly a sympathizer 
at Court, for Charles had caused all the principal 
nobles and citizens to swear allegiance to his 
daughter and her husband before he died. The 
Count appeared suddenly before Nancy, and demanded 
the keys and the custody of the Duchess. Duke 
Rene was away besieging Metz, but he at once 
posted off to Nancy, and assisted with men-at-arms 
by Charles VII., and aided by the generalship of 
Barbazan, he defeated Vaudemont in eight battles 
great and small. 

Vaudemont rallied his forces from Burgundy under 
Antoine de Toulongeon, Duke Philippe's favourite 
general, and enlisted foreign mercenaries from 
Flanders and Germany. Rene had at his back all 
the armed men of Lorraine and Bar, and contingents 
from Anjou and Provence. James, Marquis of 
Baden, and Louis of Bavaria, joined him with 
squadrons of cavalry, and his army numbered 
nearly 20,000 men. Perhaps he was over-con- 
fident of his strength, his right, and his in- 
trepidity ; and having a very much more numerous 
following, he advanced upon his enemy disregarding 
sundry cautions and wise counsels. The two armies 
met upon the plain of Bulgneville, near Neufchateau, 
on July 2. Vaudemont played a waiting game ; 
besides, he had in reserve heavier artillery than his 
royal foeman. Early in the encounter Barbazan 
fell mortally wounded, and then Rene himself received 
a wound which incapacitated him for a time. The 
fall of their leaders demoralized the Lorraine army, 



110 REN^l DANJOU and his seven queens 

and Vaudemont, seeing his advantage, made a dash 
with a column of heavy cavalry. Rene was smitten 
to the ground and surrounded. He refused to 
surrender until an officer of sufficient rank should 
be allowed to receive his sword. Then Toulongeon 
galloped up, and the Duke, covered with blood and 
dust, was lead away to the Burgundian camp. 

Taken the same evening to the Chateau de Talant, 
near Dijon, the royal prisoner was treated with the 
deference due to his rank, but, alas ! he had fallen 
into the hands of the enemy of his house — the 
hated Duke of Burgundy. That evening the curfew 
sounded not in Nancy, but the gates were shut 
and barred, and two weeping women, powerless in 
their woe, never sought their couches in the castle. 
Mother and daughter, Margaret and Isabelle, were 
nigh death themselves. No tidings could they gain 
of the whereabouts or of the condition of the man 
they loved. Duchess Isabelle cried out : " Alas ! I 
do not know whether my husband is dead or alive 
or wounded, nor where they have taken him." None 
had a consoling answer, for all Nancy was in mourn- 
ing. Two thousand good men and true lay dead 
upon the stricken field, and three thousand more 
shared the imprisonment of their Duke. The wounded 
in hundreds crawled into city, village, and mansion ; 
not a house in Lorraine but was flooded with women's 
tears and men's blood that desperate day and night. 
At last splashed and bedraggled heralds brought 
news of the Duke's captivity, and that his wounds 
were not serious : " M'sieur le Due, madame, estoit 
en bon sante ; les Bourguignons Vavoient pris: il se 
trouv at Dijon demain." 

Thus assured of her husband's safety, Isabelle 



ISABELLE DE LORRAINE 111 

brushed away her tears and roused herself to action. 
Promptly she called together the Council of State, 
where she presided in person, and eloquently demanded 
that strong measures should at once be taken to carry 
on the war against Vaudemont and Philippe de 
Bourgogne, raise sufficient funds to make good losses, 
and secure the liberty of the Duke. The Council 
responded nobly and patriotically to the call of their 
Duchess; as the " Chroniques de Lorraine" has it: 
" They had pity upon her, for she had borne four 
sturdy children as comely as you might wish to see." 
" Elle fust allegree!" was the universal testimony to 
Isabelle's worth as a wife and mother. Duchess 
Margaret, too, perhaps for the first time in her life 
of devotion, raised her voice, and called for the 
temporal sword to be reground to avenge the disaster. 
She accompanied her daughter, both mounted, to 
Vezelise, which Isabelle had appointed as the rendez- 
vous of the new army, and personally enrolled com- 
panies and squadrons, fastening to each man's helm 
a thistle — the cognizance of Lorraine. Then she 
addressed a protest to the victor of Bulgneville, in 
which she warned him not to approach Nancy, but 
to regard herself as his implacable foe until he 
should deliver up the Duke. Etienne Pasquier, the 
chronicler, sums up in ten words the courageous 
character of Duchess Isabelle. " Within the body of 
a woman/' he says, " the Duchess carries the heart 
of a man." After warning Vaudemont, she concluded 
with him a truce of three months, during which 
period she went in person to Charles VII., who was 
then in Dauphine, and implored his intervention and 
assistance. In her train was a young Maid of Honour, 
Agnes Sorel, whose beauty and naivete rightly 



112 RENE D'ANJOU and his seven queens 

affected that unstable monarch ; it was an introduc- 
tion which ripened later on into something more 
intimate than mere admiration. 

Duchess Margaret also greatly bestirred herself. 
Hearing that her uncle, the Duke of Savoy, and her 
brother-in-law, the Duke of Berry, were at Lyons 
awaiting the coming of King Charles, she posted off 
there, taking with her as advisers the Bishops of Toul 
and Metz. In company with the King of France 
was no less a person than Queen Yolande, his 
mother-in-law — 

" Aussi merit en icelle ville, 
AccompaignSe de demoiselles, 
La noble Royne de Cecile." * 

as we read in the " Heures de Charles VII." 

Bene was not kept long at Talant, but transferred 
to the fortress of Bracon, near Salines. His imprison- 
ment varied in severity ; at times he was treated 
roughly, half starved and unclothed, with no resources 
or intercourse with friends outside. Then he was 
served with dignity befitting his rank, and granted 
facilities for the better occupation of his time. But 
what a staggering blow was his misfortune to all his 
dreams and aims of honour, glory, and sovereignty ! 

Lorraine was in a terrible state, and so was 
Barrois ; men knew not what to do nor whom to 
trust. Overrun with soldiers of fortune and the riff- 
raff of foreign camp-followers, security for person and 
for property was no more. Vaudemont made, how- 
ever, no use of his victory — at least, so far as pressing 
his claims to the duchy. Everywhere his cause was 
unpopular ; indeed, he found himself in the very 

* "There also came to the same town, accompanied by Maids of 
Honour, the noble Queen of Sicily." 



ISABELLE DE LORRAINE 113 

unusual and humiliating' position of a victor denied 
the fruits of his victory. He disbanded his army 
and retired from Lorraine, and took up his abode 
with his ally, Philippe of Burgundy, and there awaited 
developments. Rene found means to communicate 
with his desolated wife, and forwarded instructions to 
the Estates of Lorraine and Barrois to acknowledge 
and serve Duchess Isabelle as Lieutenant-General 
during his captivity. She entered upon her respon- 
sible duties with the utmost fortitude and courage. 
All historians testify to her indefatigable zeal and 
administrative ability. 

Whilst the two Duchesses were doing all they 
could to effect the Duke's release and maintain the 
rights of Lorraine and Barrois, Rene himself made 
a direct appeal to Philippe of Burgundy, and on 
March 1, 1432, he proposed certain terms to his 
royal gaoler. They were as follows : (1) The accept- 
ance by the Duke of Burgundy of Duke Rene's two 
young sons, Jean and Louis, as hostages for their 
father ; (2) the cession of the castles of Clermont 
en Argonne, Chatille, Bourmont, and Charmes ; and 
(3) the payment of the Burgundian troops in full for 
all arrears. Philippe accepted these hard conditions, 
and added to their harshness by fixing a ransom 
of 20,000 saluts d'or. At the same time thirty 
nobles of Lorraine and Barrois offered themselves 
in lieu of the two young Princes. 

This contract Philippe submitted to the Comte de 
Vaudemont for his approval, which he gave after 
much consideration, but required the insertion of a 
clause to the effect that his son Ferry should be 
betrothed to Yolande, Duke Rene's eldest daughter, 
then not quite three years old, and that she should 



114 REN^ D'ANJOU and his seven queens 

receive a dowry of 18,000 florins de Rhin for 
the purchase of an estate in Lorraine, and he 
added very cunningly a proviso that residuary rights 
to the duchy should be settled upon the issue of the 
marriage. This was with grim vengeance the hoist- 
ing both of the Duke and the Count upon their own 
petards. Such an extraordinary arrangement was, 
perhaps, never before contrived by the craft of man. 

At Nancy in the Queen's apartments there was 
sorrow keen. Isabelle's heart was stabbed to the 
core. Could she part with her dear children ? That 
was the question she had to answer. The other 
clauses of Rene's charter of freedom were serious 
enough, to be sure, but none of them weighed upon 
a mother's heart as did this. As she looked out 
upon the pleasaunce whence came echoes of childish 
laughter, her will failed her. No, there they were, 
Jean and Louis, lovely boys of six and four, too 
tender much to leave her fostering care, too young to 
face the rigours of captivity. And yet her dearly 
loved husband, Rene, could not be left in durance 
vile ; his liberty was of the first importance, and no 
sacrifice would be too great to bring him home to her 
again. What should she do ? First of all she knelt 
in prayer to God, and implored the aid of St. Mary 
and the saints. St. George was for Lorraine. Then 
she hied her to the boudoir of her mother, Duchess 
Margaret, and fell upon her bosom, sobbing violently, 
the woman with the courage of a man ! Those tears, 
however, washed away her momentary want of 
resolution, and when she had laid bare her troubles 
before her sympathetic parent, the answer to her 
prayers came through the same devoted channel. 

" Isabelle, my child," the old Duchess said, " dry 



ISABELLE DE LORRAINE 115 

your tears, and thank-God in any case, for this trouble 
will pass. St. Mary, the Mother of Jesus, feels for 
you, the mother of her boys. She inspires me, too, 
and I am ready to take the dear children myself to 
Dijon or wherever our Rene may be, and to remain 
with them till Philippe of Burgundy plays the man 
and the Christian and releases them, and then our Rene 
shall fold thee to his heart ere many suns have set." 

This pious and heroic resolution of the good-living 
Duchess-Dowager was, perhaps, no more than Isabelle 
expected. She, of course, could not take her hand 
off the helm of State, but her mother was a persona 
grata at the Burgundian Court ; at least, she had been 
so when she came as a bride to Nancy many years 
before. The long and the short of the matter was 
that Duke Rene was released from his prison on 
March 1, 1432. He gave his parole to return there 
within a twelvemonth if the conditions of his freedom 
were not complied with. 

By a curious concatenation of circumstances the 
arrival of Duchess Margaret and her two little grand- 
sons at Dijon synchronized with that of the Duke of 
Burgundy. He had been away in Flanders and in 
the English camp on political business, and had post- 
poned the bestowal of rewards and honours upon his 
adherents at Bulgneville. Now he called a Chapter 
of the " Order of the Toison d'Or " at Bracon, of all 
places in the duchy, apparently forgetful of the fact 
that his royal prisoner was there. The fortress 
possessed two towers ; in one of these Rene was 
confined, — henceforward known as La Tour de Bar. 
There were three floors ; on the topmost were the 
Duke's two chambers, below certain Lorraine prisoners 
of distinction were accommodated, and the guard 



116 RENE D'ANJOU and his seven queens 

occupied the ground-floor. The other tower con- 
tained the regalia and the archives of the Order. A 
very pleasant story is told of a meeting of the two 
Dukes at Tour de Bar, and it delightfully illustrates 
the French proverb, "Noblesse oblige." On the day 
of the Chapter the Duke of Burgundy, passing the 
portal of Bene s tower, cast up his eyes, and beheld 
his prisoner looking out of a window. He tossed up 
his bare hand in token of recognition, and sent an 
officer up to Bene's chamber with a request that 
he would permit him to enter and hold converse 
there. Such a demand appealed, of course, in- 
stantly to the chivalrous instinct of the Duke of 
Lorraine and Bar, and the two Sovereigns clasped 
each other's hand in silence. Philippe's heart failed 
him at the greeting of his captive, and he shed tears. 
Whilst the Princes were so engaged, a noble of the 
Court of Dijon approached his liege and delivered 
him a despatch, the perusal of which greatly affected 
him. It was, indeed, the intimation that Duchess 
Margaret of Lorraine was in attendance with Rene's 
two young boys at the palace in Dijon, awaiting 
Duke Philippe's pleasure. He communicated the in- 
telligence to Duke Bene, who covered his face with 
his hands and sank to his seat in a conflict of emotions. 
Duke Philippe, laying his hand on his prisoner's 
shoulder, said : " La parole du Due du Bar est plus 
forte que les Stages /" Then he added : " Pray, 
Monseigneur, consider the portals of the Tour de Bar 
open to your orders. Let us go together and greet 
the good Duchess Margaret. You and she and your 
children shall be set forth this day to Nancy. May 
the good God cheer your way I" This was magna- 
nimity incarnate — a choice trait of the days of la 



ISABELLE DE LORRAINE 117 

vraie chivalrie ! To describe the joy of Rene as he 
once more caressed his sons and kissed the hand of 
his mother-in-law, and to set forth the rejoicings 
at Nancy, and, indeed, all along that joyous march 
from Dijon, with the blessedness of reunion between 
Isabelle and her spouse, would tax the pen of any 
ready writer. Rene was free, and Philippe had 
attained his apogee. Joy-bells rang, voices cheered, 
and Lorraine and Barrois gave themselves over to 
unbridled festivity; whilst the Duke and Duchess and 
their two brave boys made a royal progress, whereon 
they were nearly torn to pieces by their enthusiastic 
subjects. Rene and Isabelle once more visited every 
town, and personally thanked all and sundry for their 
loyalty and affection. 

But business is business even in royal circles, and 
the Estates of Lorraine and Bar were assembled by 
the Sovereigns to consider and fulfil the terms of 
Rene's charter of liberty. The crux was the amount 
of the money ransom, and how to raise it. Both 
duchies were stripped bare of resources, prolonged 
wars had impoverished the nobles, and had brought 
upon all classes great privations. In Anjou and 
Provence much the same conditions existed, and 
Queen Yolande had as much as she could do to make 
all ends meet. King Charles VII. was a fugitive 
or little better, he had no money, and the Duke of 
Brittany had his own responsibilities and cares. The 
only wealthy member of the Sicily- Anjou family was 
the Queen of Naples, and she was financing King 
Louis III. and his conflict with the Kins 1 of Arag-on. 
Nevertheless something had to be done, and Rene 
and Isabelle together put their pride into their 
pocket and made approaches to their unlovely rela- 



118 rene D'ANJOU and his seven queens 

tive. Queen Yolande and Duchess Margaret also 
backed up the appeal. 

Rene embarked at Marseilles directly Queen 
Giovanna's reply reached him, for she demanded 
that his request for assistance should be made in 
person at Aversa. It was not a very pleasant pros- 
pect that presented itself to the Duke of Bar- 
Lorraine. The ill-fame of the Queen of Naples had 
by no means been lessened by her attempted liaison 
with his elder brother, King Louis. Nevertheless, 
Rene was prepared to pay a high price for the 
20,000 saluts cVor, but Isabelle had no fear for his 
honour. The mission was a failure. The Queen's 
price was impossible ; and although Rene remained 
in dalliance upon her, and played the part of a com- 
plete courtier, so far as was possible for him to do, 
she dismissed her relative with a sneer and a refusal. 

News of Rene's failure reached Nancy before his 
own arrival, and resourceful Duchess Isabelle imme- 
diately set to work upon an alternative plan for 
securing the liberty of her consort. The city of 
Basel was then preparing to receive the Fathers of 
the Ecumenical Council of the Roman Church, and 
with them the citizens were required to welcome 
the Emperor of Germany, under whose protection 
they were. Sigismund was the son of Marie de 
France, sister of Louis I. of Sicily- Anjou. Moreover, 
he had married the Princess Elizabeth of Bavaria, a 
sister of Duchess Margaret. 

Isabelle despatched a notable embassy to greet 
her uncle the Emperor, and at the same time to 
crave his sympathy and help. A very favourable 
reply came quickly back to Nancy, and with the 
returning Lorraine envoys travelled two Chamber- 
lains of the Imperial Court, sent by the Emperor to 




K S 




03 s s 



0< • 



ISABELLE DE LORRAINE 119 

escort Rene to Basel. Sigismund furthermore cited 
the Comte de Vaudemont to appear before him and 
state his case. A most patient hearing was granted 
by His Majesty to the arguments of the victorious 
Count, but on April 24 Sigismund ascended the 
imperial thone in the Cathedral of Basel, and there 
solemnly gave his judgment. He decreed that Rene 
was lawful Duke of Lorraine, that he should not be 
required to return to prison, and that further grace 
should be allowed for the payment of the ransom. 

With scant reverence for the sacred edifice, and 
with much discourtesy to the Emperor and the 
dignitaries who sat with him as assessors, — the 
Papal Legate and the Patriarch of Constantinople, — 
Vaudemont indignantly refused to accept the imperial 
ruling, and demanded the immediate payment of 
the 20,000 saluts d'or or the prompt return of 
Duke Rene to Bracon. Duchess Isabelle, who had 
courageously accompanied her husband, fell upon her 
knees before their stern, irreconcilable enemy, and 
pleaded with him to extend knightly magnanimity 
towards his prisoner. No ! Vaudemont would 
have the duchy or Rene's money or his person. 
Rene, gently raising his loving spouse, led her from 
the scene, and then, tenderly embracing her, he re- 
turned to where he had left Vaudemont scowling. 
" See," said he, " here I am : take me at once to Dijon." 
Before leaving the Imperial Court the Emperor 
beckoned to him, and, directing him to kneel, formally 
invested him with the temporalities of the duchy 
of Lorraine, and upon Isabelle he bestowed with the 
Papal benediction the honour of the "Golden Rose." 

Torn from the bosom of his family once more, 
Rene bore his misfortune like a man, and Isabelle 
rose superior to her trouble. Their noble bearing 



120 RENE D'ANJOU and his seven queens 

gained further the respect and good-will of all the 
Sovereigns and peoples of Europe, whilst the spleen 
and meanness of Vaudemont rendered him odious 
everywhere. Rene submitted obediently to the 
newly-imposed discipline. He beguiled his time by 
adorning the walls and windows of his chamber with 
sketches and paintings. What a thousand pities it 
is that none of those treasures have been preserved ! 
Alas ! France has suffered more than any other land 
from the suicidal tendencies of her people. Over 
and over again national passion has swept away 
works of art and historical memorials. King Rene's 
frescoes have, with the fortress of Bracon, wholly 
disappeared. Music, too, and poetry, formed for him 
consolations. He composed ballades, he sang songs, 
sacred and profane. He played the viol and zither, 
and so whiled away some of the tedium of his 
captivity. " Les Chroniques de Lorraine," note that 
" il a scu la musique, et marier la voix aulx doulx 
accents d'un luth, gemissant sous ses doigts."* 

At Bracon was the Duke of Burgundy's splendid 
library, to which Rene was freely admitted. There he 
studied painstakingly classical works in Greek, Latin, 
and Hebrew. 

Cut off as he was entirely from intercourse with 
his family, friends, and subjects, at times he gave 
way to melancholy, and regarded himself as unjustly 
treated by Providence. He craved to behold his 
children, and this longing was assuaged by the 
chivalrous consideration of the Duke of Burgundy, 
who permitted the little Princes Jean and Louis to 
visit their unhappy father in his prison. 

* " He knew music, and how to modulate his voice to the notes of 
a lute, striking it with his fingers." 



ISABELLE DE LORRAINE 121 

II. 

The years 1434 and 1435 were full of tragic happen 
ings for Rene and Isabelle. Death claimed three im- 
portant personages near of kin. All Lorraine mourned 
the saintly Duchess Margaret. She died in her 
devoted daughter's arms during the feast of Pente- 
cost, and they buried her beside her consort, Charles II., 
in the ducal tomb at St. George-by-the-Gate. Her 
quiet influence had been all for good, both upon her 
children's account and upon the morals of the Court 
and nation. She could, as we have seen, act the 
heroine as well as the devotee. Isabelle missed her 
mother's goodly counsels more than she could express 
in words. Rene's greatest loss was undoubtedly his 
brother, Louis III., King of Sicily- Anjou and Naples. 
This bereavement wholly changed the position and 
prospects of the Bar-Lorraine ducal family ; for Louis 
dying without surviving issue, all his honours, titles, 
and dominions, were inherited by his next brother, Rene. 

This event, and what it meant for Rene, were the 
climax of his career. The proclamation of the new 
King was a tragedy and a travesty combined. The 
pathos of his position was emphatic. The news 
stunned him — powerless and wellnigh nerveless, hope- 
less and wellnigh demented. He had not regained 
his equanimity, when the mockery of his fate was 
borne still more cruelly upon him in the intelligence 
that reached him on February 2, 1435, in the Tour 
de Bar, of the demise of Queen Giovanna II., whose 
will named him her successor as King of Naples. 

Louis died of fever at Cosenza, the capital of Cala- 
bria, on November 15, 1434, lamented by his enemies 
as well as by his friends. His devoted mother was 



122 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

not with him. She was broken-hearted at the news 
which reached her at Angers. Alas that so gallant a 
soldier-King should be cut off so suddenly and so 
prematurely in the first bloom of his manhood ! Cast 
down with grief unspeakable and mute, his girl-wife 
— still a bride — Marguerite, consoled his last hours. 
No child had come to bless their union, and the 
palpitating passion of the honeymoon was naturally 
cooling. The stress, too, of martial movements 
separated all too soon and too frequently the bridal 
couple. Still, Queen Marguerite ministered tenderly 
to her sick spouse, and her love burst forth in un- 
diminished fervency as she realized that death would 
so cruelly part them. Very nobly and unselfishly, 
Louis in his will, — very strangely, made exactly to 
the day a year before, — required all honour to be 
paid to his widow, for his sake as well as for her own, 
and left her the bulk of his private property — alas ! 
greatly diminished by the expenses of his military 
campaigns. Moreover, he expressly directed that she 
should be free to go where she would, — if not to 
Anjou, then to her home again in Savoy, — and he 
besought her, " for the love she bore him, not to pine 
away in sadness, but to choose some good man and 
marry him, for the relief of nature and for the love 
of God." 

Marguerite buried Louis with the burial of a King, 
and built a monument to his memory in the cathedral, 
and she directed that the sword of Lancelot, the 
British knight whom Louis had unhorsed at tilt and 
slain, should be suspended over the royal burying- 
place. Then she speeded back to her father's Court, 
not adventuring herself at Naples, where Queen Gio- 
vanna lay a-dying. Good and true wife that she was, 



ISABELLE DE LORRAINE 123 

she kept her sorrow silently and unaffectedly for 
twelve long years, and then she married another Louis 
— Louis IV., Duke of Bavaria. Short was again 
this second union, for after another two years' widow- 
hood she married, for a third time, Ulric VII., Count 
of WUrtemberg, in 1452. At Stuttgart, after so 
many tragic changes, Queen-Duchess-Countess Mar- 
guerite settled down, and lived seventeen years in 
peace and happiness, drawing her last breath upon 
the very day of November, the 15th, which had wit- 
nessed the marriage vows of Louis III. and herself 
just thirty-six years before. 

Duchess Isabelle de Lorraine, now Queen of Sicily - 
Anjou and Naples, with her accustomed promptitude, 
despatched a messenger to the King in prison, announ- 
cing her instant departure for Naples. She sapiently 
understood that her presence in Italy was essential if 
the crown of Naples was to rest securely upon her 
husband's head. She would receive the allegiance of 
the Neapolitans in his name, and administer the 
government as his Lieutenant-General. On Novem- 
ber 28 she left Nancy with her second son, Louis, 
Marquis of Pont-a-Mousson, and travelled post-haste 
into Provence. Again her presence kindled the most 
enthusiastic expressions of commiseration for the lot 
of the King and Count, and of devotion to his person 
and to herself. Men and money poured in upon her. 
She welcomed all, and accepted gratefully everybody's 
contribution. 

From Marseilles the Queen and her following 
sailed to Genoa, where the Doge and the nobles gave 
her a right royal reception, and volunteered help and 
amity. Thence to Milan the intrepid traveller took 
her way, where she gained over the Duke, and he 



124 RENE DANJOU and his seven queens 

made Rene's cause his own. In Rome, Pope Euge- 
nius IV. blessed her and her son, and conjured all 
the Italian States to lend their aid. Her arrival at 
Naples was so entirely unexpected by the Alfonsists 
that they were not only checkmated in their attempt 
on King Rene's inheritance, but were thrown into a 
panic, from which they were unable to rally. 

The Neapolitans of every grade and class welcomed 
their new Queen and her five great galleys, filled with 
the flower of Provence, Milan, and Genoa, with 
every manifestation of joy and loyalty. Her charms 
of person transported them, her intrepidity roused 
them, and her gracious words delighted them. The 
old love of Naples for the House of Anjou returned, 
and every adherent of the Spanish King was cast out. 
Queen Isabelle had very soon more serious work in 
hand than graciously acknowledging the salutations of 
the enthusiastic citizens. King Alfonso was at the 
gates of Naples with a strong force on land and sea. 
She in person assumed command of the loyal troops 
in the capital, appointed trusty commanders, and 
placed Naples in a good state of defence. Besieged 
rigorously by the Spanish army, the Queen directed 
sorties which were perfectly successful, and the enemy 
retreated to a more respectful distance. In one of 
these affrays, Dom Pedro, brother of the King of 
Aragon, was slain, and Queen Isabelle, with a spirit 
of chivalry worthy of a noble knight and a magnani- 
mous Sovereign, offered his dead body royal sepulchral 
rites in the cathedral. 

During Queen Isabella's absence from Lorraine, 
King Rene named their eldest son, Jean, now Duke of 
Calabria, — the traditional title of the heir to the 
throne of Naples, — as his Lieutenant - General in 



ISABELLE DE LORRAINE 125 

Barrois and Lorraine, child though he was, not yet 
ten years old. Nominally he was placed under the 
tutelage and guardianship of Queen Yolande, who 
made a progress to Nancy to assist in carrying out her 
son's command, and to look after the two little 
" orphaned " girls, Yolande and Marguerite, her 
granddaughters. Most prudently she abstained, as 
might have been expected from her high-toned char- 
acter, from interfering in any affairs of State in these 
two eastern duchies of her son's dominions. Four 
high officials she selected to direct the policy of the 
palace and safeguard the crown, all men of proven 
probity and loyal disinterestedness, and to them she, 
by Rene's wish, delegated the actual charge of the 
young Duke : Jehan de Fenestranger, Grand Marshal ; 
Gerard de Harancourt, Seneschal ; Jacques de Haran- 
court, Bailli or Mayor of Nancy ; and Philippe de 
Lenoncourt, tutor to the young Princes. 

Queen Yolande having seen all these matters 
settled, and having named Anne, Countess of Vaude- 
mont, governante of the two young Princesses, she 
took her departure to Provence and Marseilles, there 
to await the course of events in Naples. The ap- 
pointment of a Vaudemont must have struck most 
people as extraordinary. The Countess was mother 
of the implacable Count Antoine, and it was due to 
Queen Yolande's remarkable foresightedness that she 
was chosen. She saw the perils ahead caused by the 
number and dispersion of the dominions of the crowns 
unfortunate King Rene had not yet put upon his head. 
It appeared to her that Naples and Sicily would be 
the chief appanage, and require the presence of the 
Sovereign almost continuously. Anjou and Provence 
might fall to the government of Rene's second son, 



126 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

and then Bar and Lorraine would go to his daughters, 
perhaps upon their marriage. Vaudemont would 
never relax his efforts to gain Lorraine. Might not a 
matrimonial alliance between a son of his and a grand- 
daughter of her own, thought the Queen, solve 
amicably and profitably a very vexed question ? 

All the while that Queen Isabelle was holding 
Naples for her consort and keeping Alfonso of Aragon 
in check, nothing was neglected which might hasten 
the release of the royal captive. With commendable 
astuteness Isabelle made overtures to her namesake 
Isabelle, Duchess of Burgundy, and her efforts were 
seconded on the spot by Queen Yolande. Isabelle of 
Portugal was in disposition and tastes very much like 
the late lamented Duchess of Lorraine — much affected 
by religion, by charity, by pity. The separation of 
the King of Sicily- Anjou and Naples from his family, 
and the sorrows of his Queen, appealed to her womanly 
sympathy. She talked long and well to Duke 
Philippe, and at last succeeded in gaining his signature 
to a decree of pardon and an order of release for the 
distinguished captive. Under her persuasion the 
amount of the ransom was halved, and Rene's liberty 
was unlimited. 

King Rene of Sicily- Anjou and Naples was set free 
from durance vile at Bracon on November 25, 1436. 
No doubt this achievement was greatly due to the 
urgent pressure of all the Sovereigns of France, 
headed by King Charles VII. ; indeed, the Duke of 
Burgundy had hardly any choice in the matter, for 
Arthur de Richemont, brother of the Duke of 
Brittany and Constable of France, who was the bearer 
of the united royal protest, gave him plainly to under- 
stand that the retention of Rene at Bracon would 



ISABELLE DE LORRAINE 127 

mean the immediate invasion and devastation of the 
duchy. 

Rene went off at once to Nancy and Bar-le-Duc, 
there to be welcomed by his subjects and to thank 
personally his many warm friends and helpers. After 
embracing his children, he hurried on to Angers, where 
Queen Yolande greeted him tenderly and made him 
rest and refresh himself. She had been busy, as was 
her wont, in more matrimonial adventures, and now 
she broached the subject of the betrothal of the young 
Duke of Calabria, her eldest grandson. The bride 
she had chosen for him, with Queen Isabelle's approval, 
was the Princess Marie, a daughter of the Duke of 
Bourbon, a little motherless girl who had been under 
her care for some time. She was a granddaughter 
of King John II. the Good, and niece and ward of the 
Duke of Burgundy, who dowered her with 50,000 
4cus d'or. 

There was, however, not much time for King Rene 
to waste in festivities. He set off to thank King 
Charles, the Duke of Brittany, and all the other 
friendly Princes who had so greatly aided his deliver- 
ance. Then he hastened by water, — the usual method 
of quick transit, — down to his favourite Provence, 
where the transports of delight with which he was 
welcomed surpassed all former demonstrations. He 
wanted men and money, — and Provence was never 
backward in contributions for her Count, — for his 
next move was to be to Naples, to embrace his noble 
Queen and relieve her of her heavy responsibilities. 

The usual course was taken by the royal galley. 
Genoa was the rendezvous, as of old. The Genoese 
gave their visitor a splendid reception. His romantic 
career had greatly affected them, and now that they 

9 



128 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

beheld his gracious person their delight knew no 
bounds. Never had a royal visitor such an ovation 
in Liguria. The famous Tommaso Fregoso, the 
Doge, lodged him in the Ducal Palace, the streets 
were wreathed in spring greenery, and all the maids 
and matrons of the proud city combed out their rich 
brown, lustrous locks of hair, jauntily fixed their 
white lace veils with jewelled pins, and put on their 
best attire and massive chains of gold. At the 
entrance of the Piazza di San Lorenzo one hundred of 
the fairest of the fair scattered flowers before King 
Rene's white steed of state, and six of the prettiest 
and the noblest were dedicated to his personal wish 
and disposition. This indeed was a Scriptural and a 
patriarchal custom, but always duly observed in de- 
corous and sensuous Genoa. But again pleasure had 
to give way to business, and King Rene had the satis- 
faction of sailing out of that famous harbour followed 
by a goodly flotilla of fighting ships well found. 

Rene was received at Naples tumultuously as 
lawful King and Sovereign. Mounted on a great 
black charger, crowned and habited in cloth of gold 
and covered with the royal mantle of state of crimson 
velvet and ermine, the sword of St. Januarius in 
his hand, he rode through people, flowers, banners, 
and huzzahs, right into the nave of the cathedral ; 
there Queen Isabelle received her consort exultingly, 
and with him knelt lowly for the benediction of the 
Mass. That day marked an amazing contrast in the 
fortunes of two men — King Rene, the prisoner of 
Bracon, seated upon the ancient throne of Naples, 
and King Alfonso, the conqueror of Aragon, pacing 
uneasily his prison chamber at Milan ! 

The reunion of the royal couple was a happy thing 



ISABELLE DE LORRAINE 129 

indeed, so often parted had they been and so sadly. 
Isabelle had acted the part of a good woman and a 
faithful spouse despite splenetic insinuations to the 
contrary. Her position had been most trying in 
anxious times, and among ill-disposed aspirants for 
her favour. She knew intuitively who to trust of 
those that expressed themselves most devoted to her 
service, and no one ever was more zealously pre- 
occupied with the interest of her friends than she. 
Now came the time to award honours to the faithful 
and the true, and King Rene deputed his Queen to 
bestow the royal favours. The first to profit by 
the new dispensation was, naturally, the widowed 
Queen Margaret, who after the burial of her consort, 
King Louis III., had sought refuge in Naples, under 
the sheltering wing of her royal sister-in-law. Still 
resplendent in her beauty and possessed of every 
youthful grace, the young Queen was the object 
of deep solicitude and affection. 

The condition of the Two Sicilies was parlous ; 
almost every commune was divided against itself on 
the subject of the succession to the throne, and 
almost daily were recorded deeds of cruelty and 
aggression, pointing to the outbreak of serious 
hostilities all over the dual kingdom. The blue and 
white ensign of Anjou and the red and yellow banner 
of Aragon were reared, not in friendly contest, but 
in deadly feud. Under these circumstances Rene 
judged it expedient for the Queen and their little 
son Louis to go back to France, and Queen Margaret 
refused to be separated from her sympathetic sister- 
in-law. It was a pang to both again so soon to part, 
but rulers of States are not like ordinary mortals ; 
for public duties must take precedence of private 



130 rene d'anjou and his seven queens 

interests. Isabelle's brief rule at Naples had done 
wonders in the way of conciliation, and Etienne 
Pasquier did not exaggerate her virtues when he 
wrote : " Cette vraye Amazone, que dans un corps de 
femme portoit un cceur d'homme, Jist tant d'actes 
generaux pendant la prisonment de son mari, que 
ceste pibce este enchassee en lettres d'or dedans les 
annates de Lorraine." All Naples shed tears at 
their beloved Queen's departure. Margaret they 
hardly knew, but the last Queen they had known, 
Giovanna, was hated quite as thoroughly as Isabelle 
was adored. 

The galley bearing back to Marseilles those whom 
he most loved had hardly passed beyond the horizon 
of the Bay of Naples when Rene took action. On 
September 22 an Anjou herald appeared in the camp 
of King Alfonso, and threw down King Rene's blood- 
stained glove as a challenge, first to a personal 
encounter between the two Kings, and then to 
a combat a Voutrance between the two armies. On 
the part of Alfonso, who was on his way from his 
Milan prison, the challenge was accepted by his chief 
of the staff, who indicated the locality for the trials 
of chivalry and force, — the level country between Nola 
and Arienzo, at the foot of Vesuvius. Single combat 
was denied by Alfonso, and then Rene attacked his 
rival with all the forces at his command. Numerically 
again, as at the stricken field of Bulgueville, the 
Angevin army was much the stronger, for under 
Rene's banner marched the Milan-Genoese contingent, 
with Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, at its head. 
Rene's fleet, too, was at anchor in the bay, com- 
manded by the intrepid Admiral Jehan de Beaufort, 
to act in conjunction with the land forces of his King. 




1. " EJIBARKJIENT OF ' CUER ' FOR THE' ISLAND OF LOVE ' ' 

2. " ' CUER ' READING THE INSCRIPTION ON THE ENCHANTED FOUNTAIN " 

From " La Couqueste de Doulce Mercy.'' Written and illuminated by 
King Bene, National Library, Paris 

To face page 130 



ISABELLE DE LORRAINE 131 

The Spanish army was better disciplined and better 
furnished with artillery, and King Rene once more 
had to bow to circumstances, and to look in vain for 
Fortune's smile. His forces were cut in two and 
slaughtered right and left, and he himself wounded 
and all but captured, for he was not a leader to 
skulk behind his men : he led the van, and was ever 
in the thick of the fight. His appeal, " Anjou-Cecile ! 
Amor Chevaliers /" was of no avail. He was beaten, 
and fled with only two knights, and shut himself 
in Castel Nuovo. A truce was signed, and the 
King of Naples went off to report his defeat at 
Rome, Florence, and Genoa. 

Pope Eugenius IV. and the Emperor Joannes 
Paleologos, who were both at Florence, received the 
royal fugitive ardently, blessed him, and awarded 
him and his heirs, disregarding the victory of King 
Alfonso, the right to govern the Two Sicilies in 
perpetuity. The Medici and other Florentines of mark 
and wealth offered subsidies for the recovery of the 
Neapolitan throne, and at Genoa and Milan men and 
supplies were to be had for the asking ; but Rene had 
had his fill of war, and bloodshed was now to him 
abhorrent. " Too much blood," he remarked, " has 
been shed already. We will rest awhile, and ask 
God to pardon our sins." Rene returned to Marseilles 
in 1442 a sadder and a wiser man. There he met 
once more his Queen, to rejoice his stricken heart ; 
but that heart, and hers too, tenderly bled again and 
again, for not only did the melancholy news of his 
good mother's death in Anjou shatter him, but 
Isabelle and he had the terrible grief of parting with 
their dearly -loved second son, the Marquis of Pont-a- 
Mousson. Prince Louis, so promising, so handsome, 



132 REN:£ D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

and' so loyal, they buried sadly : he was his mother's 
favourite child, the companion of her triumphs and 
her trials. 

King Rene was called from his grief over the 
tomb of his young son to Tours by Charles of France. 
To the French Court had come Ambassadors, with 
the Earl of Suffolk at their head, to treat for peace 
between the two conflicting 1 kingdoms. The French 
King, with his usual lassitude, deputed to King Rene 
the conduct of the deliberations, which ended honour- 
ably for all parties concerned, in the guarantee of two 
years' cessation of hostilities, with the acknowledg- 
ment of in statu quo. Nearer home, however, 
matters were not so stable ; the state of the allied 
duchies was deplorable. So insecure were the roads 
in Lorraine, — infested by wandering bands of discon- 
tented peasantry and ill-affected townspeople, — that 
travelling was attended with the utmost danger. 
The higher the dignity of a wayfarer, the greater the 
eagerness to attack and pilfer. Queen Isabelle was 
herself the victim of a dastardly outrage. Journeying 
forth soon after her dear son Louis's death, to pray 
at his grave at Pont-a-Mousson, her cortege was 
attacked by a party of marauders from Metz. They 
compelled her to leave her litter, with its cloth of 
gold curtains and luxurious cushions, and subjected 
her to rough treatment in spite of her protestations. 

"You villains!" she cried, "you know perfectly 
who I am. How dare you offer this gross insult to 
your Sovereign! Begone, and let me pass. You 
shall richly pay for your temerity." Jeers and offen- 
sive remarks greeted this haughty command. They 
cared nothing for Isabelle nor her consort; indeed, 
they were unrighteous allies of the Count of Vaude- 



ISABELLE DE LORRAINE 133 

niont. The Duchess was stripped of her jewellery, 
her cqffrets were rifled, and her servants beaten, and 
then the miscreants made off. 

The Queen hastily returned to Nancy, and laid the 
matter before the Council, demanding satisfaction. 
" Unless you, my lords," she said, " at once make a 
strong representation to the Governor of Metz, I will 
set off to Anjou, and bring the King back to recom- 
pense the miscreants." All the chivalry of France 
was shocked at this amazing outrage, and King 
Charles, with Arthur de Richemont and a strong 
force, hurried into Lorraine from Dauphine, deter- 
mined to make an example of the gross behaviour 
of the Messins. The city barricaded her gates, 
sounded the tocsin, and prepared to resist, if might 
be, the united forces of France. The besieged held 
out for six months, flinging taunt on taunt against 
the King and Queen. At last it fell, and the price 
the rebels had to pay was onerous, besides the for- 
feiture of all their charters and privileges. A general 
amnesty was granted on February 27, 1445, in 
Barrois as well as in Lorraine. The Messins 
signalized their deliverance by offering to their liege 
Lord complete allegiance, together with 25,000 ecus 
d'or enclosed in a splendid gold and enamelled vase. 

Rene now for the first time in his thirty years of 
public service and command found himself in the 
possession of that rare blessing, Peace, and he pre- 
pared to celebrate it adequately. Isabelle, too, was 
only too thankful for the respite ; her sorrows and 
anxieties had wellnigh broken her courageous heart. 
After she parted with her husband in the Bay of 
Naples, she landed at Marseilles, and made all haste 
to Angers, too late, indeed, to soothe the last 



134 REN£ D 1 ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

moments of her noble mother-in-law, but drawn there 
by the tranquillity of Anjou. There she gave herself 
to the education of her two young daughters, to whom 
she was happily reunited — Marguerite just thirteen, 
and Yolande a year younger. Rene again joined his 
spouse, whom he loved so fondly, and in whose 
honour he had adopted a new royal motto and cipher, 
" Ardent Desir" below a burning brasier. They gave 
themselves up to religious exercises, and led a calm 
and retired life — precious to them both after the 
alarums of the past. The world was still very young 
for them both — Rene no more than thirty-seven, and 
Isabelle two years his junior. 

The most delightful ingredient in their full cup of 
joy was the home-coming of their son and heir, Prince 
Jean, Duke of Calabria and Lieutenant-General of 
Barrois-Lorraine. During eleven strenuous years he 
and his devoted parents had rarely met. He had 
zealously, after their brave example, addressed himself 
to his public duties, and had won golden opinions 
from the loyal subjects of the throne. He was near- 
ing his majority, and with him came his young wife 
Marie, whose marriage had been but lately accom- 
plished. They were stepping bravely together along 
the marital way, which their grandparents and their 
parents had traversed, unscathed by scandal and 
beloved by all. 

Great festivities were organized at Angers, Tarascon, 
and Nancy, to celebrate the general peace, and in partic- 
ular the betrothal of Princess Marguerite d' Anjou. A 
magnificent tournament was held between Razilly and 
Chinon in the summer of 1446, which attracted all 
the most famous knights in France and beyond the 
frontiers and an immense crowd of spectators. One 



ISABELLE DE LORRAINE 135 

there was, and she one of the fairest of the fair, came 
riding beside her father, one of King Rene's dearest 
friends, Count Guy de Laval ; and the King for the 
first time set eyes upon lovely Jehanne, who was 
destined to mingle her destiny with his right on to 
his dying daj T . Rene caused " Le Chdtel de Joyeuse 
Garde " to be built of wood richly adorned with paint- 
ings, tapestries, and garlands, and for forty days jousts 
and floral games engaged the attention of the gallant 
and beauteous company. A very singular and popular 
custom was inaugurated at the King's suggestion. 
Four knights of proved probity crossed their lances 
in the roadway beyond the Castle of Chinon. Cava- 
liers, accompanied by their ladies fair, were made to 
fight their way through and carry safe their sweet- 
hearts. A faint heart lost his lady, a knight un- 
horsed his horse, and a victorious competitor his sash 
of knighthood, which was immediately tied to the 
crupper of his fair one's palfrey. The King himself 
took his place in the " Lists " in black armour ; his 
mantle was of black velvet sewn with silver lilies of 
Anjou, and his well-trained charger was black also. 
Queen Isabelle and her ladies occupied a flower- 
decked tribune, and with her was poor young Queen 
Marguerite and her son's child-wife, Marie. They 
were the Queens of the Tournament, but the damosel 
Jehanne de Laval was " Queen of Beauty," scarce 
thirteen years old. 

Alas ! a deadly " bolt shot out of the blue." The 
Duchess of Calabria had but just risen from child-bed ; 
she was not strong enough to bear the excitement 
and the toil of such tumultuous gaiety, and upon the 
last day of the tournament she fainted in the royal 
tribune, and breathed out her brief life before she 



136 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

could be borne to couch. Thus into life's sweetest 
joys conies sadly too often the relentless bitterness of 
sorrow. Faces which only a few short hours before 
were wreathed in smiles were furrowed with the ravages 
of grief ere the curfew sounded. The tournament ended 
in a "Triumph of the Black Buffaloes." Happily, 
perhaps, the child died too, and both sweet bodies 
were consigned to one flower-decked grave in the 
chapel garden of the Castle of Saumur, — " la gentille 
et la bien assise," — a paradise of fragrant trees and 
pleasant prospects. 

Dire news, too, reached Angers from Provence. 
A winter of unparalleled inclemenc}?- was followed by 
a famine and a pest, which decimated people and 
domestic animals, and wrought havoc with the crops. 
Bene and Isabelle took boat once more for their 
southern province, and their " le bon roy," as he was 
now called affectionately by his subjects, laid himself 
out to alleviate his people's sufferings. Taxes were 
remitted, the poor fed and clothed, and farms re- 
stocked. " La bonte" he said, " est la premiere 
grandeur des roys." People noted the King's grey 
hair — hair " white less by time than white through 
trouble," as chroniclers have written. Trouble makes 
all the world akin : the King and Queen bore their 
people's, and they humbly shared their rulers' griefs. 

The clouds cleared off that sunny land, and birds 
once more sang in the meadows, and men and maids 
were gay. Then it was Tarascon's turn to celebrate 
the virtues of the Count and Countess of Provence. 
A Provencal tournament was a celebration ne plus 
ultra, and Bene made that of 1448 famous and 
unique by his institution of the knightly " Ordre du 
Croissant." To be sure, it was established at Angers, 



ISABELLE DE LORRAINE 137 

whose warrior-patron, St. Maurice, was honoured as 
guardian and exemplar of chivalry, and in whose 
cathedral church the banners of the knights were 
hung. The King himself drew up the statutes of 
the Order. With characteristic and chivalrous 
modesty, he named, not himself First Master, but chose 
Guy de Laval for that honourable post. Conditions 
of membership were dictated by religion, courtesy, 
and charity, in harmony ; only knights of goodly birth 
and unblemished reputation were eligible. They were 
enjoined to hear Mass daily and to recite the daily 
" Hours." Fraternal love was to be exemplified in 
all dealings with their fellow-men at large. An 
impious oath or an indecent jest was never to pass 
their lips. Women and children were in a special 
sense committed to their care. The poor and ailing 
were to engage their best offices. Debts of every sort 
and gambling under every guise were absolutely for- 
bidden. With respect to the fair sex, the code of 
rules had in golden letters the following order : "De 
ne mesdire cles femmes de quelques estats quelles soient 
pour chose qui doibue d'advenir." The knights first 
impanelled, having taken their oaths of obedience 
and accepted service, departed from Anjou, and made 
their rendezvous at the King's Castle of Tarascon on 
August 1 1. Rene himself again entered the "Lists," 
but champion honours were carried off by his son-in- 
law, Ferri de Vaudemont, and Louis de Beauvais ; and 
the Queen-Countess Isabelle placed floral crowns upon 
their brows, a golden ring upon their right hands, and 
received a kiss of homage upon her still smooth and 
comely cheek. 

Nancy was the scene of the most magnificent 
gaieties Lorraine had ever beheld. The espousals of 



138 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

the Princess Marguerite and King Henry VI. were 
solemnized in the ancient Gothic church of St. Martin 
at Pont-a-Mousson by Louis d'Harcourt, Bishop of 
Toul. The King was represented by the gallant 
Earl of Suffolk, one of the most famous Knights in 
Europe. The ecclesiastical ceremony was rendered 
all the more auspicious by the joint nuptials of the 
Princess Yolande and Count Ferri de Vaudemont. 
All France, — Sovereigns, ladies, nobles, citizens, — 
thronged around the King and Queen ; their con- 
gratulations were, however, restrained until the 
actualities of the Vaudemont marriage were revealed. 
To marry a dear child to the son of a man's worst 
enemy appeared quixotic at the least, and few called 
to mind that strange clause in Rene's charter of 
release from Bracon. The King was, as Duke 
Philippe of Burgundy had styled him, a man of his 
word ; and if proof were wanted, then the appoint- 
ment of the young bridegroom's mother, the Countess, 
as governante of Bene's daughters furnished it. 
Besides this, the presence of the Count himself at 
the marriage of his son exhibited not only the recon- 
ciliation of the two rivals for the throne of Lorraine, 
but emphasized the innate chivalry of both. To be 
sure, Antoine de Vaudemont was in ill-health, his 
fighting days were over, and he was searching for 
comfort and absolution before he faced his end ; and, 
in truth, that end was nearer than he thought, for he 
died six months after he had given his blessing to 
Ferri and Yolande. 

A pretty and characteristic story is told of the 
loves of Ferri and Yolande. King Bene was wishful 
that his daughter and future son-in-law should attain 



ISABELLE DE LORRAINE 139 

more mature age before the consummation of Count 
Antoine's wishes concerning them. The young 
knight, " who was," wrote Martial, " regarded among 
men and youths much as Helen of Troy was among 
her companions," — a very handsome fellow, — chafed 
at delay, and, emboldened by the vows of his fiancee, 
one dark, windy night he with two trusty comrades 
broke into her boudoir, where she, ready for the 
signal, awaited her lover. Romeo carried his 
Juliet away to Clermont in Argone, and held 
her till her father consented to their marriage. This 
story is contained in an old manuscript, the handi- 
work of Louis de Grasse, the Sire of Mas. 

Splendid fetes covering eight full days followed 
the Church ceremonies. The " Lists " were held in 
the Grande Place of Nancy, in the presence of the 
right worshipful company, headed by Kings Charles 
and Rene and Queens Isabelle, Marie, and Margaret. 
Quaintly Martial d'Auvergne wrote in " Les Vigiles 
de Charles VII": 

"Les Boynes de France, Skille, 
La Fiancde et la Dauphine, 
Et d'autres dames, belles filles, 
Si enfirent devoir condigne." * 

All the chdtelaines forsook their memoirs and took 
the field- marital in force. Mars had come in strength, 
Venus would join the fray, and victory was never 
doubtful. If comely, gallant, doughty knights fell 
not in deathly conflict in those " Lists " of love, their 
hearts were captured by fair vanquishers all the same. 

* " The Queens of France and Sicily, 
The Bride and the Dauphine, 
And many other dames of honour, 
Compelled the homage of the men." 



140 ren£ DANJOU and his seven queens 

" En gagea sans retour 
Son cceur et sa liberty," 

describes those battle-fields of Cupid's warfare ! 

The pageantry of the tournament over, the panoply 
of the encampment claimed the knightly company of 
Nancy, and a mighty cavalcade — ladies, too, in litter 
and on palfrey — ambled off serenely to the great wide 
plains of Champagne, where Rene and Charles re- 
viewed at Chalons-sur-Marne the united armies of all 
the crowns. It was a sight which stirred all the 
best blood in France, and spoke to her Sovereigns and 
her statesmen of a new age, when the artifices of war 
should give place to the arts of peace. Alas ! when 
human things appear to promise peace and joy, there 
ever comes over the scene the pall of Providence. 
War again broke out between France and England, 
but now the French held their own and more; and 
King Rene, revived in military ardour, led the 
victorious vanguard, and crowned his bays of triumph 
by new palms of peace. 

Sad news came to him, however, when in Normandy, 
from his ancestral Angers. His devoted and dearly 
loved Queen, Isabelle, was laid low with illness. 
Stalking fever had crossed the castle moat and fixed 
its baneful touch upon the royal chatelaine. Do what 
she would, — and her will to the end was vigorous 
enough, — she could not shake off the deadly visitant. 
She felt that her end was approaching unrelent- 
lessly, and with admirable piety the noble, high-toned 
Queen controlled her pains, and patiently prepared 
herself to face her last foe with courageous resignation. 
Her children were gathered by her bedside — Jean 
and Yolande in person, Marguerite in spirit, and 



ISABELLE DE LORRAINE 141 

perhaps Louis, too, from his tomb at Pont-a-Mousson. 
Quietly and prayerfully on February 28, 1453, she 
passed away to join her babes in Paradise, and 
" Black Angers " was plunged in deepest mourning. 

The death of a great Queen deeply affects men and 
women everywhere. Isabelle's name, like that of 
" good Queen Yolande," had become a household word 
in Europe far and wide. Everywhere tokens of 
bereavement were displayed, and King Rene, the 
royal widower, hastening home too late to close his 
fond wife's eyes in death, wrote in his tablets : 
" Since the life of my dear, dear wife has been cut 
off by death, my heart has lost its love, for she was 
the mainspring of my consolations." In every one 
of his " Livres des Heures," and in other books and 
places, the artist in the Sovereign painted and drew 
the features and the figure of his Queen. 

Their married life, — chequered as it had been, — 
had been as happy as could be. Devoted to one 
another with a rare force of faithfulness which knew 
no flaw, Rene and Isabelle were examples for their 
generation. No stone has ever been cast at either 
of them. Nine children were born to them : four, 
Charles, Rene, Anne, and Isabelle, died in infancy ; 
Nicholas, their third son, was a twin with Yolande, 
born in 1428 ; he had the title of Duke of Bar, but 
died before his majority. Good Queen Isabelle was 
buried in the Cathedral of Angers, where nearly 
forty years later Rene's bones were laid beside her 
ashes, to mingle in the common decay till the last 
trump shall sound to wake the dead. 

There cannot be a better summing up of her gifts, 
her graces and her virtues than in the words of the 



142 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

sententious life's motto she herself composed, and 
wrote in golden letters upon parchment, and gave to 
each of her dear children : 

"Si V Amour fault, la Foy n' est plus chirie ; 
Si Foy pe'rit, V Amour s'en va pirie ; 
Pour ee, les ay en devise liez 
Amour et Foy."* 

* " If Love fails, Faith becomes more precious ; 
If Faith perishes, Love dies too ; 

Whence Love and Faith together are my device." 



CHAPTER V 

JEANNE D'ARC — "LA PUCELLE," " LA BLANCHE REINE 
DE FRANCE " 



" Give me Duke Rene de Barrois, the noble son of 
good Queen Yolande, to guide me into France." 
The request was made by a simple village maiden 
aged not more than seventeen years, and the person- 
age she addressed was Charles II., Duke of Lorraine. 
It was an extraordinary request ; the occasion, too, 
was extraordinary. 

Born on the Feast of the Epiphany in the year 
1412, of worthy peasants, at Domremy, in Alsace, — 
Jacques d'Arc and Isabelle Romee, his wife, — Jeanne 
was the younger of their two daughters ; she had 
three brothers older than herself. Domremy was a 
squalid little hamlet, like many another upon the 
Meuse, boasting of the mother-church of the com- 
mune — a grim old building, but glorified by many 
figures of holy saints in its coloured windows. The 
nearest village was Maxey, upon the borders of 
Lorraine. The villagers were in constant feud — 
Domremy for the King of France and her own Duke 
at Nancy, Maxey for the Duke of Burgundy and the 
hated English. Sieur Jacques d'Arc and his three 

stalwart, hard-working sons were as ready with the 

143 10 



144 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

pike as they were handy with the plough. Mere 
Isabelle and her two daughters were zealous backers 
of their menfolk. 

Sieur Jacques was, as peasant farmers went, a man 
of substance and well connected. He had saved a 
goodly sum of money, and owned, perhaps, the biggest 
flock of sheep in the country-side. Milch cows and 
fattening oxen grazed his wide meadows. He was a 
man of probity, and had served the ancestral office of 
Maire of Domremy for many a year. Mere Isabelle 
excelled in stitchery as well as in the rearing of 
poultry and the cultivation of her fair garden plot. 
When about to be delivered of her youngest child, 
she dreamed three times that she should bear a girl, 
and that she should become famous in her country's 
history. The narrative goes on to say that many 
unusual circumstances attended her child's nativity : 
a fierce thunderstorm shook the dwelling, and 
mysterious voices uttered the strange cry : " Aux 
secours ! aux secours de la France /" 

Jeanne, the little daughter, was duly christened by 
the cure, and from her mother's womb she was a 
child of dedication — St. Catherine and St. Margaret 
were her spiritual sponsors. Precocious from her 
weaning, both in physical growth and mental develop- 
ment, she grew up a devotee at Mass and shrine. 
She sought solitude and silence, and declined to share 
her playmates' games. Other children thought her 
odd, and old crones shook their heads and pitied 
Sieur Jacques and his worthy spouse. Jeanne's 
favourite resort was a thicket near her parents' home, 
— Le Bois Chenus it was called, — an oak-wood grove 
where her father's pigs greedily sought for acorns. 
The Bois had, however, a weird repute ; it had been, 




JEANNE D ARC 
From a Fresco by E. Lepeuveu. Pantheon, Paris 



To face pwje 1 14 



JEANNE D'ARC 145 

centuries before, a sacrificial site of heathen worship, 
and the village folk avoided it at night, for they said 
they saw strange figures under the trees and heard 
strange sounds, — in fact, the wood was haunted. 

One summer's day in July, 1424, Jeanne d'Arc 
was seated, as was her wont, upon an ancient fallen 
menhir at the verge of the coppice. She was shell- 
ing peas, and she also had her knitting by her. The 
hour of the day was nearly that of the " Angelus," 
when the frightened damsel heard an unusual rustling 
of the oaken branches overhead, and somewhere out 
of the tree or out of the sky voices sounded faintly 
upon her ear. At the same time a strange lurid 
light gleamed between her and the church-tower 
across the meadow. Laying aside her occupation, 
she listened breathlessly, almost in a trance, to what 
the " Voices " said ; they were pitched in soothing 
female treble accents. 

" Jeanne soit bonne et sage enfant," said one ; and 
another went on : " Va souvent a Veglise" Surely 
the heavenly speakers were Jeanne's holy guardians, 
St. Catherine and St. Margaret. Jeanne was 
riveted to the spot, and moved not till the twilight 
brought her sister looking for her. Jeanne said 
nothing, but for seven days in succession she sat 
as at the first, and heard the same solemn words 
repeated ; then on the seventh, — it was Saturday, — 
another wonder appeared to her : a very glorious holy 
one and a watcher, — the great St. Michael, God's 
warring archangel, in shining armour, — stood before 
her under the great oak-tree, and bade her give heed 
to what he said. He told her eloquently and con- 
vincingly the story of the sad state of France — 
devoured by enemies, torn by factions, her King a 



146 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

fugitive uncrowned. When the heavenly visitant 
had finished his impassioned narrative, he bade 
Jeanne kneel, and, touching her shoulder with his 
flashing sword, said : " Jeanne va toy aux secours du 
roy cle France" 

The girl swooned as soon as her ghostly visitor 
had vanished, and so was found, and borne to her 
couch by her brothers in alarm. In delirium for days 
and nights, she kept on repeating what the archangel 
had said, until, amid broken-hearted sobs, her grieving 
parents counted her as mad. All the gossips of the 
village and those from more distant homes shook 
their heads sadly, and said more fervently their Ave 
Marias. Jeanne was not mad, and after she had 
recovered her usual demeanour she related to her 
doubting father and mother and the good cure her 
mysterious story. The good priest proposed to exor- 
cise the evil spirit which he was convinced was in her. 
Her father, — a matter-of-fact sort of man, and 
serious-minded, like all the peasant-folk of France, 
— thought a good thrashing was her deserts ; her 
mother sided with her : she remembered the strange 
cry at her Jeanne's birth. Jeanne heard all they 
had to say, and kept silence, her protestations only 
adding fuel to the fire of denunciation. She resumed 
her usual avocations, but daily sat to hear the 
" Voices," as she called her ghostly visitants, and 
daily they repeated their strange instructions. She 
spent much time upon her knees in the church, and 
at last the cure, good man, gave heed to her infatua- 
tion. " If this be from God," he said to himself, 
" no man may stay her." He wondered, naturally, 
how this quiet and devout village girl could ever be 
the Divine instrument for the deliverance of France. 



JEANNE D'ARC 147 

Jeanne's simplicity and sincerity, her earnestness 
and good behaviour, however, gradually silenced un- 
friendly critics ; and although most folk regarded her 
as mad, many believed her story and watched 
developments. The strange revelation of the maid 
of Domremy travelled far and wide, and brought 
many a neighbour and many a stranger to question 
her. Among the rest came Sieur Durand Laxaert, 
her mother's uncle by marriage — a man of means, too, 
and well known the country round. He questioned 
Jeanne, he questioned her parents, he questioned the 
village cure, and then he went off and told the 
amazing story to his friend, Chevalier Robert de 
Baudricourt, the Captain of Vaucouleurs, a market- 
town in Champagne, not far from Domremy. The 
gallant Captain listened attentively, but when the 
story was completed he burst out laughing. " Why, 
man," said he, " you and all of them are crazy ! Just 
go back and box the child's ears soundly ; that's the 
way to treat this sort of nonsense." 

The matter dropped so far as the Chevalier was 
concerned, but again, in the following January, Sieur 
Laxaert approached Baudricourt, and asked him to 
see his young neice. He consented, and Jeanne, 
wearing her coarse red homespun kirtle and heavy 
wooden shoes and her village girl's coif, was intro- 
duced to the unbelieving Captain. He was dum- 
founded by her appearance, for the lass was no village 
hoyden. Her figure was slender, her features refined ; 
her great brown eyes, — staring into his face, — told 
only of simple faith and untarnished honour. Her 
voice was low and sweet, and there was a something 
eerie and incomprehensible about her which struck 
the good man, and made him feel uncomfortable. 



148 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

When he asked her what she wanted, she promptly 
replied : "I want to be led to the King of France." 

" My child," de Baudricourt replied, " that I 
cannot do ; but, if you wish, I will willingly take you 
to Nancy, and lead you to the Duke, your sovereign 
lord and mine. Prepare yourself at once for the 
journey." 

Amid the tears and protests of her parents and 
her friends Jeanne started, as she was, upon her 
eventful pilgrimage. At St. Nicholas de Pont, — a 
little town two leagues from Nancy, — she asked to be 
allowed to spend three hours in devotions in the 
church. When she reappeared, her face was wet with 
tears, and her long brown hair hung dishevelled over 
her shoulders. She did not seem to care. Her gaze 
was heavenward, and the only words she uttered 
were : " En avant /" With Sieur Laxaert was a 
comrade, a young man, Jehan de Novelonpont, better 
known as Jehan de Metz, of good birth and knightly 
carriage. He offered Jeanne his sword. She touched 
the hilt, and, smiling sadly, said : " Alas ! young sir, 
that blade will be required erelong to slay thy 
country's foes and God's." Thus they entered the 
capital of Lorraine. 

Duke Charles received his strange visitor some- 
what reluctantly. He was a man of shrewd common- 
sense, intolerant of superstition, and impatient of 
feminine assumptions — as his consort, Duchess 
Marguerite, learnt to her undoing. He asked curtly 
about her home and her occult powers, and jokingly 
invoked her aid in the cure of gout, to which he was 
martyr, and from which he was then suffering 
acutely. " This," said he, " shall be the test of your 
pretensions to save France. Remove my pain, and 



JEANNE D'ARC 149 

I will take you to the King." Jeanne shed tears, 
and, straightening out her rough woolsey skirt, she 
looked sadly up to heaven. At last she spoke : 
" Take me not, noble Duke, for a common jongleuse. 
First of all, noble Duke, I implore you to become 
reconciled to the Duchess, your wife ; as for me, I 
am the unworthy instrument of God to set King 
Charles of France upon his throne and to scatter his 
enemies." The Duke dismissed the maid with a 
wave of his hand. " Take her away," he said ; " be 
kind to her ; maybe I will see her again shortly." 
" Jeanne," he added, " in a day or two you shall tell 
your tale before some noble lords." 

All over Lorraine and Barrois internecine war was 
rife ; noble rose against noble, and yeoman and 
peasant joined the fray. The most serious was the 
rivalry of Rene, the young Duke of Bar, and 
Antoine, Count of Vaudemont, concerning the rights 
of succession to the dukedom of Lorraine. Metz, 
into which de Vaudemont had thrown himself, was 
invested by the Barrois troops, splendidly led by the 
boy-warrior — he was but twenty years of age. A 
messenger from Charles requested a truce, and in- 
vited both commanders to join him at Nancy to take 
counsel with their peers upon the strange claims of 
a shepherd-girl from Domremy. With Duke Rene 
rode a score of knights and nobles ; Count Antoine 
was accompanied by a like company. Upon the morrow 
of their arrival at the capital, Duke Charles 
assembled them and others in the great courtyard 
of the castle, and sent for Jeanne, who, still attired 
in her peasant garb, knelt at his feet and kissed his 
hand. Then she surveyed the assembly furtively, as 
though prepared for insult or worse, and quietly 



150 RENE D'ANJOU and his seven queens 

repeated her strange story amid general scoffs and 
impatience. One noble knight alone gave serious 
heed, — Rene, Duke of Bar. Duke Charles taunted 
her with her inability to mount a horse, much more 
to lead an army. 

" Jeanne," said he, " thou hast never bestridden a 
charger, thou canst not bear a lance !" 

"Sire," she replied, " mount me, and see if I 
cannot both ride and hold my own." 

A quiet palfrey, — the property of Duchess 
Marguerite, — was led into the courtyard by its 
groom, but Jeanne refused to mount. " Give me," 
she demanded, " the charger of that Prince j^onder," 
pointing to Rene of Sicily-Anjou and Bar. The 
Prince lifted her into the saddle, and his gentleness, 
reverence, and good looks, differentiated him from the 
rest of that knightly assemblage. 

" What is thy name, brave Prince ?" she asked. 

" Rene de Bar," he said. 

"What!" the Maid replied, "the noble Duke of 
Bar, the gallant son of good Queen Yolande of Anjou. 
You shall be my escort into France." 

With that she laid firm hold of the heavy lance, 
offered by a young esquire, placed it correctly in 
stay, and smartly gathered up the reins. Saluting 
Dukes Charles and Rene, she drove the heels of her 
wooden shoes into the horse's sides, and dashed round 
and round the courtyard, the lance in position, and 
then out into the open. Astonishment marked each 
noble countenance, and then loud applause greeted 
this quite unexpected display ; it enlisted to her 
cause most of the spectators, who had meant to cry 
down the girl's ineptitude, but now were perfectly 
ready to follow her. With difficulty Jeanne reined 



JEANNE D'ARC 151 

in her mount, and slowly cantered into the courtyard 
again. Saluting in correct knightly fashion the 
Duke, her Sovereign, and beckoning Rene once more 
to her side, she dismounted with his help, rendered 
up her lance, and fell at Charles's feet. 

The Duke gently raised the palpitating, girlish 
form, and aloud exclaimed : " May God grant the 
accomplishment of thy desires ! I see thou hast both 
courage and intelligence." Jeanne then turned to 
Rene, and, laying her trembling hand upon his arm, 
looked up innocently but intently with her great 
brown eyes, into his open, truthful face, and said : 
" You, my Prince, will help me, I am sure. There is 
none other here in whom I know I can put my whole 
trust. You are like the blessed Michael who speaks 
to me and strengthens me. You are a Christian 
knight ; you will lead me into France." The Maid's 
partiality for Rene de Bar gave rise, unworthily, to 
evil gossip with respect to their mutual relations. 
She was attracted to him by the tales of the country- 
side. Domremy was so near to the scenes of his 
military achievements in Lorraine that news of him 
and his prowess affected greatly the younger folk. 
The fact that he was the husband of their Princess 
Isabelle, " the Pride of Lorraine," greatly added to 
his local fame. 

The noble company at the castle moved into the 
hall of audience, and there Jeanne laid before them 
fully all her loyal aims — heaven-directed, as she said. 
She told them, too, the story of the "Voices," and 
craved their assistance in her enterprise. " We will 
traverse France together," she exclaimed, " until we 
find King Charles. We will crown him at Reims, 
and we will then cast out our country's enemies. 



152 RENti D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

Saints Michael, Catherine, and Margaret, will protect 
us and our homes !" 

This amazing speech by a young country girl 
roused general enthusiasm, and the mysterious magic 
of her voice and manner disarmed all opposition. 
Each belted knight drew forth his steely blade, and, 
tossing it on high, swore to be her henchman. 
" Vive la nostre Royne! a has les Anglois /" they cried 
aloud together. These acclamations hurtled stridently 
through gallery, way-ward, and postern, and away 
they flew in increased volume past the portcullis, till 
every citizen in Nancy and the labourers in the fields 
around joined in the ecstatic chorus : " Vive la nostre 
Royne Jeanne /" Rich and poor, noble and simple, 
and the children, too, pressed into the castle precincts 
to catch a sight of the humble yet brave messenger 
of God, and perchance to touch her person or her 
dress, seeking infection from the virtue and valour 
which possessed her. Jeanne's reception and recog- 
nition at Nancy Castle attained the proportions of 
a Bretagne ipavdon. Church-bells clanged for her, 
priests blessed her, and relics of saints were exposed 
with the Blessed Sacrament on her behalf. 

Duke Ren6, on his part, showed no hesitation in 
accepting the high honour the inspired Maid had 
paid him. He kissed her hand, a peasant's hand, — 
strange act for a royal knight ! — smitten with the 
girl's piety and devotion ; he, too, was religiously 
affected. Jeanne became an heroic figure in his 
estimation. What clean-minded lad is there, or has 
ever been, who is not marvellously affected by a 
handsome, dashing girl, irrespective of her rank in 
life ? What traces some have seen of a tenderer 
passion still than youthful admiration were surely 




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JEANNE D ARC EXPELLING GAY WOMEN FROM HER CAMP 
From an Illuminated MS. National Library of Paris 



To face page 152 



JEANNE D'ARC 153 

hard to diagnose in that first burst of emotional 
romance : it may have bloomed later, but Rent's 
heart was in the safe-keeping of Isabelle. Times 
and manners then lent colour to the insinuation, 
possibly, for love and lovers were freer then than 
now from social conventions. Rene departed for 
Bar-le-Duc, to prepare for the expedition. He gave 
immediate orders to raise the siege of three fortresses, 
Metz, Vezelise, and Vaudemont, and, calling off the 
troops encamped there, he returned quickly to Nancy, 
to escort Jeanne to the King of France. He found 
her arrayed in quasi-armour, with spurs on her mailed 
boots ; her head alone was uncovered, save for the 
glory of her abundant hair. She wore a sash of 
white silk, the gift of Duchess Marguerite ; her 
horse, too, had white silken favours. The cavalcade 
started from the castle, Rene and Jeanne riding 
side by side in front. Through byways they went, 
—an ever-increasing host of armed men and camp- 
followers, - — avoiding notice as best they could, 
marching by night, resting by day, to avoid the 
scattered bands of English foemen. 

The pilgrimage, — for such it really was, — partook 
not only of a religious and a warlike character, — for 
Jeanne insisted on attending Mass en route, and 
prevailed upon her escort to say their daily prayers, 
— but it exhibited elements of gaiety ; with Duke 
Rene rode a company of minstrels, with Jehan 
Durant of Bar as their leader. To him Rene paid 
30 gold florins a month — "to make warlike melody 
for keeping up my men's brave hearts," he said. 
At Troyes, Jeanne and her escort were received 
rapturously ; the Bishop placed in her hand a white 
silken oriflamme, a banner made by ladies of the city, 



154 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

and censed and blessed her, and so they won their 
way to Tours. 

Before entering that ancient loyal city, — under 
the special charge of the holy warrior St. Martin, — 
Jeanne requested Rene to send to the neighbouring 
village of Fierbois, and " ask the cure of the Church 
of St. Catherine for a sword which hangs," she said, 
" over the high-altar." It was a famous weapon, 
although the doughty knight whose it had been was 
unremembered. The blade was of finely tempered 
steel, and richly damascened with golden crosses and 
silver lilies — the emblems of Jeanne's spiritual 
sponsors. The sword itself, in size and shape, was 
like St. Michael's own. She told Rene that the 
" Voices " had revealed this relic to her, and had 
bidden her hang it on her hip. At Tours, also, Rene 
had news of the whereabouts of the King, who, sad 
to say, was a fugitive in and out of his own dominions 
and those of his neighbours. Charles VII. was at 
Chinon, safe in its majestic castle — much like that of 
Windsor in extent, position, and distinction. 

It came certainly as a grievous shock to all that 
enthusiastic expedition to find the King, — " poor as 
a church mouse and defenceless as a rabbit," — 
engaged in frivolities and excesses. The Court at 
Chinon was the maddest and the merriest in France. 
Duke Rene, true to his promise, at once sought out 
the King, and arranged an interview with the Maid 
of Domremy, although His Majesty at first refused 
"to be troubled with a country wench." The meet- 
ing was held in the Grand Logis of the enceinte of 
the Chateau du Milieu. Chinon, indeed, had three 
castles connected with one another : The Chateau de 
St. Georges was a sort of advanced fortress, built 



JEANNE D'ARC 155 

by Henri Plantagenet (Henry II. of England) in the 
twelfth century, but greatly dilapidated 300 years 
later ; the Chateau du Milieu, the most important 
part of Chinon, contained the royal apartments ; and 
the Chateau de Coudray, the most ancient, dating 
from the time of the heroic Thibaut le Tricheur, 
early in the tenth century. Henry II. died in 
the Grand Logis, where King Charles VII. had 
his temporary residence. In the Salle du Trone, 
with its vast chimney-piece of sculptured stone and 
its famous painted windows, the King summoned 
his courtiers, and, disguised as an ordinary noble of 
the Court, he mingled with them, giving out as his 
reason that he should " test the wench's power of 
divination. If she picks me out at once, then I will 
hear what she has to say ; if not, I won't have any- 
thing to do with her." 

Jeanne was brought into the splendid apartment, 
filled with the pageantry of France, and dazzling 
enough to have disturbed any ordinary girl's equa- 
nimity. She made, taught by Rene, an obeisance 
to the empty throne, and then he told her she must 
find the King among the company. Without a 
moment's hesitation she went straight up to the 
Sovereign incognito, bowed low, and said softly : 
" Sire, you are Charles the Dauphin." Very much 
astonished by Jeanne's appearance and demeanour, 
and still more by her certainty as to his identity, 
Charles acknowledged himself, and, leading the 
unabashed damsel with Rene aside into the em- 
brasure of a window, he asked her to give him her 
message. This Jeanne did with candour and em- 
phasis, and furthermore astounded " the Dauphin," 
as she persisted in calling him, — he had not been 



156 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

crowned King, of course, — by " revealing," as he told 
Rene afterwards, " certain secrets known only to 
myself and God." What these " secrets " were has 
puzzled curious inquirers. Probably they concerned 
happenings during the King's youth, and affected the 
question of his legitimacy. He, too, was at one 
time proposed as the husband of the " Pride of 
Lorraine," the heiress Isabelle. Anyhow, as known 
to Jeanne d'Arc, they were the usual exaggerations 
of Court and country gossip. Kings, knights, and 
ladies, and their doings, ever cause peasants topics 
for discussion. 

" Gentle Dauphin," the Maid said, " I am sent to 
you to tell you that you shall be crowned at Reims." 
The Court was divided ; part held with la Tremouille, 
the Chancellor, against Jeanne's pretensions, some 
of the baser sort attempted to make sport of her 
rusticity, but the majority sided with Duke Rene, 
who was now more than ever impressed with the 
bearing of his " Queen." 

II. 

All sorts of plans were propounded to test the 
virtue and the devotion of the young Domremy 
shepherdess. Rene and those of his following 
denounced most of them as indecent and prepos- 
terous, but he allowed two inquiries to be instituted : 
one with reference to Jeanne's orthodoxy in religion, 
and the other with respect to her personal chastity. 
The King approved both these expedients, and 
confided to Rene, — youth though he was, — their 
superintendence and execution. 

Still acting as Jeanne's escort, Rene took her and 



JEANNE D'ARC 157 

a number of Court chaplains, together with the 
worthy Cure of Domremy and Sieur Laxaert, — both of 
whom had been sent for from Lorraine, — to Poitiers, 
for examination by a special conclave of Bishops and 
theologians. Poitiers was famous for its divinity 
schools and its Ecole de Droit, wherein thousands 
of students were instructed in doctrinal matters and 
subjects of metaphysical science. The Holy See 
had there an office of the Congregation of Rites 
and a permanent secretariate of hagiology. The 
quaint old capital of Poitou was also renowned 
for the shrine of St. Radegonde, which attracted 
annually vast numbers of pilgrims to kiss Le Pas 
de Dieu, Christ's footprints, where he stood com- 
muning with his gentle servant. Radegonde and 
Jeanne had ground for mutual sympathy. Perhaps 
Jeanne knew the story of her prototype. 

Do what they would, the holy men of Poitiers 
could not make Jeanne deviate ever so little from 
the thread of her story. " The Voices," she said, 
" speak to me daily, and I feel that my three saints 
are with me constantly." She answered all their 
questions fearlessly, and very greatly were they 
impressed by her sincerity and amazed at her know- 
ledge of divinity. No flaw was to be discovered in 
her orthodoxy, nor did she yield at all to insinuations 
of witchcraft. Indeed, the whole assembly was 
affected by her religious enthusiasm, and a careful 
precis was preserved of all that transpired during 
the examination. This was, in truth, the first step 
to the beatification of St. Jeanne d'Arc. 

Returning to Chinon, the Maid awaited her 
second ordeal — the inquisition by a panel of matrons. 
This delicate business was taken in hand by Queen 



158 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

Yolande and certain ladies well known for probity 
and prudence. Jeanne submitted herself gladly 
enough to the " good mother " of her true knight, 
Rene d'Anjou and Bar. They speedily reached a 
decision respecting the character of the Maid of 
Domremy. Emphatically they repudiated all sug- 
gestions of immorality, and declared that Jeanne 
d'Arc was a virgo intacta, " as chaste in mind and 
body as the Holy Virgin herself." " La Pucelle," as 
they styled her, " is," they affirmed, " a child of God, 
the peculiar charge of St. Catherine and St. Margaret, 
whose saintly virtues she desires to cultivate. She 
is no witch, nor in the pay of any evil-minded persons. 
She is directly inspired by God, and St. Michael 
is her protector." 

This testimony Queen Yolande delivered personally 
to King Charles, and persuaded him to see the 
Maid once more and converse more fully with her. 
The result of this intercourse was amazing : Charles 
became another man. The persuasions of his faithful 
and devout consort, Queen Marie, had completely 
failed to rouse him, and the exhortations of Queen 
Yolande had no more than excited his curiosity, but 
the village maid from Lorraine succeeded in inspiring 
the trifling, inept Sovereign with new life and energy. 
He sent for Rene, and named him his lieutenant, 
and recommitted "La Pucelle" to his care. With 
the young Duke was his trusty friend and Mentor, 
Armaund Barbazan, one of the most perfect soldiers 
and gentlemen in France, the precursor of another 
knight " sans jpeur et sans reproche " — Bayart. 
Together they elaborated a plan of campaign which 
would be in obedience to the mysterious " Voices " 
of "La Pucelle.'" This they submitted to la Tre- 



JEANNE D'ARC 159 

mouille, Dunois, " le Batard," and La Hire, Charles's 
trusted counsellors. It was the latter, probably, who 
uttered that veiled rebuke to the King : " Sire, I 
never knew any Prince so happy in his losses as 
you ! 

These sapient commanders agreed that the first 
move in the new operations was the raising of the 
siege of Orleans. The King acquiesced ; he, too, 
had done his part, for he had, upon his own initiative, 
detached the Duke of Burgundy from his alliance 
with the English, and had thus very materially 
prepared the way to Reims and his coronation. 
Jeanne d' Arc was, of course, apprised of this decision, 
and she was asked what part she proposed to take. 
After a night-long vigil in the grand old church of 
St. Maurice, where she held communion with the 
"Voices," she told Rene that she should be by his 
side " as leader of the vanguard." 

The Maid had done very much upon the forced 
march from Nancy to Chinon to reform the discipline 
and the freedom of the soldiers. She forbade swear- 
ing and the use of strong drink. Gambling of every 
kind, and resort to fortune-telling mummers, she 
penalized, as well as every other illicit distraction. 
She expelled in person les Jilles de joie — the gay 
women who hung upon the fringe of the army and 
demoralized both officers and men. Daily she insisted 
upon Mass being celebrated on the field of march, 
and moved each man to offer his own orisons upon 
his bended knee. Among her immediate attendants 
were priests and acolytes — strange comrades, perhaps, 
for Duke Rene's minstrels ; but, then, the two cults, 
— Religion and Chivalry, — were ever in intimate 
affinity : all-honoured Blessed Mary first, and the 

11 



160 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

saints of God, and all respected the persons of the 
weaker sex around them. 

It was a well-found, well-disciplined, and well-led 
army that left the sheltering battlements of Chinon 
on April 29, 1429 — it was a momentous move. 
Some in river barges, some in saddle, some afoot, 
traversed the lovely spring-smiling valley of the 
Loire. Forest echoes were awakened and church- 
bells set chiming in response to holy litanies of 
Church and lilting songs of chivalry. Peasants put 
lighted candles on the lintels of doors and windows 
of their rude hovels ; every castle and manoir dis- 
played their banners and boomed their guns en route. 
In the churches the Host was exposed on decorated 
altars, and Miserere sung. 

Before bidding farewell to King Charles, La 
Pucelle, — fully armed, cap-a-pie, in burnished steel 
armour of Zaragoza damascened with gold, wherein 
she had been clothed by Queen Yolande's royal 
hands, — took her place upon the foot-pace of the 
high-altar of St. Maurice. She placed her white 
oriflamme and her crimson- sheathed sword of Fierbois 
upon the sacred stone for episcopal benediction, and 
then, dedicating her mission and herself once more 
solemnly to the God of battles, assumed her trophy 
and her weapon. Led by Rene, she slowly passed 
down the nave of the grand old church, and out by 
the great portal, whence, mounting her strong white 
charger, she rode off amid enthusiastic plaudits and 
many hearty prayers, to put herself at the head of 
the French host, and thus awaited the signal to 
advance. 

What a thrilling scene it must have been ! 
Nothing in modern warfare could ever equal in 




JEANNE D'ARC AT THE SIEGE OF ORLEANS 
From a Fresco by E. Lepenveu. Pantheon. Paris 



To face page 100 



JEANNE D'ARC 161 

circumstance and emotion that pageant pilgrimage. 
It was the last hope of France going forth to 
conquer or to die. led by a young shepherd-girl and 
a youthful royal knight. La Pucelle's absolute 
reliance on the help of God, her remarkable courage, 
and the spell she had cast over the King, his army, 
and his Court, were all rendered more convincing to 
the common mind by the magic of her personal 
appearance. She was hailed as " Nostre Royne en 
blanche /" The bright sun shone upon her resplen- 
dent white armour, and the sharp breeze unfurled 
her snow-white banner ; her white charger, too, 
enhanced the tout ensemble. She rode the most 
conspicuous object in that dazzling cavalcade, and no 
wonder her followers regarded her as almost super- 
natural. 

At Tours and at Blois " Stations " were made for 
absolution, and from the latter place Jeanne caused 
Rene, in her name, to write an ultimatum to the 
Duke of Bedford, the English Regent of France and 
Generalissimo of the English army. She ordered 
him and his co-commanders to cease devastating fair 
France, sorely stricken as she was, and to avoid the 
clash of arms by retiring before her Heaven-directed 
forces. " Thou hast had," she said, " noble Duke, 
thy fill of human bleed. Seek now the Divine 
pardon, for nothing shall stay me till I have planted 
my banner upon the walls of Orleans. Give back to 
me the keys of all the towns you have seized, destroy 
no more property, repent and retire." 

Alas for human foresight ! human quarrels mar 
heroic achievements : la Tremouille, Dunois, and 
La Hire were not at one with one another — each 
sought his own ; but that being impossible, all three 



162 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

determined that they would master Ren6, Barbazan, 
and Jeanne. La Pucelle had made up her mind 
to approach Orleans from the right bank of the 
Loire ; but her rivals led their troops to the other 
side, whence the fortifications could only be reached 
by crossing the impregnable bridge or by boat. 
Jeanne, however, was not to be denied, and she 
determined to make an assault at once and at all 
costs. Seeing herself misled, she summoned Rene 
once more for council, and Guy de Laval, a young 
knight, — second only to Rene in devotion to La 
Pucelle, — -joined the deliberations. A storming- 
party was chosen, — regardless of the opposition of 
the three churlish commanders, — and Jeanne put 
herself at its head without any hesitation. Confi- 
dence and enthusiasm prevailed : Jeanne stood upon 
the broken bridge whilst Rene and Guy hammered 
at the portcullis ; and thus upon May 8 Orleans 
was captured. Among the wounded was the Maid 
herself, not severely, to be sure, but the sight of her 
blood lent frenzied prowess to her soldiery. With 
her escort she rode through the streets crowded with 
famished, suffering people, who blessed, — nay, almost 
worshipped, — her. She halted at the cathedral of 
Sainte Croix, and held communion with the " Voices," 
and then she went to rest awhile in the humble abode 
of Sieur Jacques Bouchier, an honest citizen attached 
to the suite of the Duke of Orleans. Rene lodged 
at the ducal palace. 

The English withdrew to Paris, where a truce was 
agreed to by Louis, Cardinal de Bar, in the name 
of his nephew, Duke Rene — a very singular arrange- 
ment, but it was the efficient cause of a general sus- 
pension of hostilities. Charles VII. called a council 



JEANNE D'ARC 163 

of war at Blois, which decided that, as the way was 
now absolutely open, La Pucelle should fulfil her 
mysterious but triumphant mission by conducting 
" the Dauphin " to his coronation. 

A great wave of patriotism swept over France. 
Men asked one another whether this was not the 
prelude to deliverance from 300 years of foreign 
aggression, and the first step towards the reforma- 
tion of civil disorder. Charles rose to his magnificent 
opportunity, and rallied all the French Sovereigns in 
a league of peace and stability. Even the implacable 
Duke of Burgundy, who hated Rene de Bar and 
Charles de Lorraine irreconcilably, was minded to 
join in the general rapprochement. La Pucelle 
dictated a letter to him, conjuring him to renounce 
his petty jealousies for the love of Christ and 
St. Mary, to make his peace complete with King 
Charles of France, and to turn his hand against the 
common enemy. " Come," she said, " with us to 
Reims, there to cement the good-will of all good men 
in France." The Duke actually made some prepara- 
tions for the journey, but at the eleventh hour pride 
got the better of his reason, and his hand never 
grasped those of his brother Sovereigns nor that 
of La Pucelle. Notwithstanding all France was 
en route to Reims that July, attracted magnet-like 
by the Maid's white steel mail and oriflamme. 

The Cathedral of Reims, — whose marvellous 
" Glory of Mary " over the great western portal 
Viollet le Due called " the most splendid piece of 
Gothic architecture in the world," — had been the 
coronation theatre of all the Kings of France since 
Henry I. in 1027 ; but no such ceremony had 
equalled in interest and in grandeur that of July 17, 



164 rene d'anjou and his seven queens 

1429. The summer sun awoke betimes the loyal 
citizens and the thousands of strangers within their 
gates ; the genial morning breeze ruffled out gay 
banners and pageant garlands which decorated 
lavishly each house and street, and soon the world 
and his wife were on foot to the cathedral. 

There was certainly very much more than a mere 
suspicion of Jin bouquet in that fresh morning air ; 
each worthy had filled his flask with generous vin de 
la montaigne, with which to quaff jovially the good 
healths of Charles and Jeanne and Rene, inseparable 
in the popular mind. " Le Roy, La Pucelle, et le 
preux Cavalier " — that was the toast. 

What a motley crowd it was ! Some, too, of the 
hated English were there, courageously incognito ; 
but, then, Reims was quite as cosmopolitan in the 
fifteenth century as she is in the twentieth, with her 
30,000 Yorkshire and Worcestershire wool- weavers. 
Probably, however, no forced Yorkshire rhubarb 
found its way then, as now, into the vats of the 
vintners ! 

It was a well-dressed crowd, for St. Frisette, — 
one of the patrons of the city, — has all along had 
her devotees, and no coiffeurs are so famous as those 
of her romantic cult. Indeed, her influence in fashion 
is for ever memoralized by the costumes and head- 
gear, correctly chiselled, of the statues of the 
cathedral. 

Saints, prophets, kings, and queens, in stone, high 
up in the galleries of the exterior of the cathedral, 
looked down approvingly, or the reverse, upon the 
rare show and its spectators. The gargoyles of 
Reims were ever famous for their unusual benignity. 
They were all animation and sparkled in the sun- 



JEANNE D'ARC 165 

shine ; merriment became emphatic within the 
floriated arches of the buttresses. In each a laugh- 
ing angel in stone was exercising her witchery and 
adding heavenly hilarity to the general good-humour. 
The whole sacred building was en/Ste; it is still the 
merriest building in Christendom ; its sculptured 
stones have imbibed the effervescence of rare cham- 
pagne for centuries ! 

Within the sacred building all was solemn and 
restrained. Resplendent gem-like glass of the thir- 
teenth century, skilfully leaded in the clerestory 
windows of the nave, produced a chiaroscuro of 
scintillating coloured light, wherein the spirits of 
the mighty and the beauteous dead were mustering 
to take, unseen, their sympathetic parts in the 
gorgeous functions of the day. Freshly-worked 
tapestries, covering the aisle walls, shared with the 
vitreous glories the telling of pageant stories of 
religion and romance. 

The " Sqcre" or coronation, of King Charles was 
an unique ceremonial. Supported upon either hand 
by the most distinguished Sovereign Princes of 
France, — Louis III., King of Sicily and Duke of 
Anjou, and his brother Rene, Duke of Barrois and 
heir-consort of Lorraine, — he passed majestically up 
the nave under the heavy golden canopy of state. 
Another Anjou Prince, Charles, Duke of Maine, 
nephew of Louis and Rene, bore the monarch's train 
— his cousins all. The Grand Peers, with one 
exception, Burgundy, marched alongside in sovereign 
dignity and pride. Strange it was that no royal 
ladies graced the auspicious sacring. Queen Marie 
bore no part ; she, indeed, remained at Bourges, and 
recited her " Hours " in solitude. Neither Queen 



166 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

Yolande of Sicily- Anjou nor Duchess Isabelle of Bar- 
Lorraine was present, but the place of First Lady 
was, for all that, occupied by a " Queen," the Queen 
of the coronation — " la Royne blanche — Jeanne." 
Such a " Queen " had never stood beside a Sovereign 
kneeling for his crown before the high-altar of 
Reims. The fabled fame of saintly Queen Clotilde 
paled before the brilliant triumph of plain Jeanne 
d'Arc. How she bore herself in this her hour of 
miraculous victory, and what part she took in the 
stately ceremonial, historians have scantily related, 
and painters only imaginatively recorded : no precis 
has come down to us, no artist made a sketch upon 
the spot. 

Immediately after the King and his royal sup- 
porters walked with dignity La Pucelle, in her 
flashing white armour. In her right hand she bore, 
at the salute, the crimson-sheathed sword of St. 
Catherine of Fierbois. Her head was bare, save 
for her lustrous locks of hair ; but some pious souls 
thought they saw a saint's nimbus around her brow ; 
it was, perhaps, a ring of sunny halo — a reflection 
from her mail of steel, or a coronal of coloured glories 
shot through the stained-glass windows. By the 
Maid's side marched her young and true esquire, 
Louis de Contes, bearing unfurled her magic 
oriflamme. 

It was said that Jeanne had not intended to take 
any part in the actual coronation of her Sovereign ; 
it was quite enough for her that Charles and she 
had entered Reims together. She was resting 
quietly and prayerfully, communing with her patron 
saints, and listening, as was her daily wont, of course, 
to the " Voices," within her modest chamber in the 



JEANNE D'ARC 167 

humble hostelry, — now the Maison Rouge, — where 
her parents from Domremy had put up, when Rene 
and a Sovereign's escort clattered up to the door and 
commanded in the King's name the Maid's presence 
within the cathedral. At once she donned her 
armour, and, giving Rene her hand, she walked with 
him across the cathedral place to where the King 
was awaiting her. 

"The people," it is recorded, "looked on with 
awe and wonder. Thus had actually come to pass 
the fantastic vision that floated before the eyes of 
the young village girl of Domremy, and had thrilled 
all France." When La Pucelle had taken up her 
station on the royal dais, she grasped her white 
silken banner in her right hand, saying to those 
around her : " This oriflamme hath shared the 
dangers : it has a right to the glories !" That 
ensign of victory still towers up aloft in the nave of 
Reims Cathedral, above the very spot where Jeanne 
stood and Charles was crowned — an abiding mascot 
of faith and chivalry. We may well imagine the 
heroine casting her eyes over that splendid temple of 
God and its occupants, and resting at last mes- 
merically upon the glorified figures of her three 
beloved holy ones beaming down upon her from the 
choirs of saints in the clerestory windows. St. 
Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret, were all 
there, and their Master, too, for out and away from 
the empyreal realm, and beyond the burning sun 
of heaven, for the coronation of Charles VII. of 
France at Reims was the apotheosis of Jeanne d'Arc 
of Domremy. " The glory of God," as some said 
who saw her, " there transformed the village maid into 
a bride of Christ " — a substantial Queen of Heaven. 



168 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

Immediately after the anointing, the coronation, 
and the other ritual acts, were complete, Jeanne 
knelt down before her King, her eyes brimful of 
tears, and said softly to him ; " Gentle King, now 
is fulfilled the pleasure of God. I pray you thank 
Him humbly with me, and let us thank, too, the 
good saints Michael, Catherine, and Margaret, who 
have so wonderfully aided us. Now my mission to 
you, my King, is fulfilled, I pray you release me, 
that I may depart with my parents to my simple 
home. One thing only I crave : it is that my 
beloved village shall be free for ever from taxation, 
and that their land and tenements shall be retained 
by my people. Sire, I bid you farewell." 

A few days subsequent to the coronation, Charles 
held a council of war at Reims to decide the plan 
of operations against the enemies of France, and 
he again sent Rene to the Maid's lodging to bid her 
attend. " You have," said the King to Jeanne, 
" not yet quite fulfilled the task you set yourself. 
The English still possess our gates. I need your 
presence and your services to rid France of her foes." 
The Maid, sad at heart that more bloodshed had to 
deluge the soil of the devastated land, had no choice 
but to resume her martial garb, and once more to 
mount her war-steed. The council was divided in 
opinion : some agreed with la Tremouille, Dunois, 
and La Hire, and others sided with Rene and 
Barbazan, — with them was Jeanne, — and they pre- 
vailed. An advance in force on Paris was the order 
of the day. Upon August 13 Rene, with Jeanne, 
led the vanguard of the King's forces across the 
Marne. At Montpiloir a pitched battle was fought, 
wherein Jeanne wrought terror in the breast of 




THE CORONATION OF KING CHARLES VII. AT REIMS CATHEDRAL 

From a Fresco by E. Lepenveu. Pantheon, Paris 



To face page 16S 



JEANNE D'ARC 169 

superstitious foemen, and Rene covered himself with 
glory. The pick of the English army, under the 
Regent himself, the Duke of Bedford, was worsted, 
after knightly encounters of noble champions and 
prodigies of valour on both sides had been keenly 
scored. Wherever the white oriflamme of La 
Pucelle chanced to be advanced, there was panic ; 
the English regarded her as a supernatural being 
whom no human bravery could withstand. Defeat 
became a rout, and ten days after leaving Reims 
the victorious French army followed Jeanne and 
Rene into St. Denis and recovered the royal 
sepulchres. 

Next to popular and soldierly estimation of the 
heroism of La Pucelle, was universal admiration 
for the courage and resourcefulness of the young 
Duke de Barrois. He with his brother, King Louis 
of Sicily, were also the champions of the knightly 
" Lists," although Jeanne had prayed her warrior not 
to risk his neck in such encounters. Rene, indeed, 
was the hero, as Jeanne was the heroine, of that 
wonderful campaign. Only half the truth was told 
of his abilities in that saying of the Maid : " Rene de 
Bar is worth more than a squadron of cavalry !" 

During these sanguinary operations two royal 
ladies, each in her castle boudoir, — at Angers and 
at Nancy, — were devoured with anxiety and appre- 
hension : the mother and the wife of Rene — " good " 
Queen Yolande and " fair " Duchess Isabelle. Their 
part was to watch and pray, for each was exercising 
a lieutenant-generalcy for her absent hero. Very well 
could they each have donned their coats of mail, like 
Jeanne d'Arc, for each was to the manner born ; but 
the closer ties and dearer of motherhood could not be 



170 rene D'ANJOU and his seven queens 

renounced. Queen Marie also played nobly the 
woman's part ; she had her family cares also, and, 
now that her consort was like a lion roused, her tact 
and love had much to do to restrain his ardour. 
Charles was not a soldier born, nor had he been 
trained in military command, so his presence in the 
field was fraught with risk and danger ; his forte was 
in reserve. Whilst Marie grasped the bridle of his 
charger, Agnes Sorel loosened the girdle of his mail, 
and he quietly reposed at Loches. 

La Pucelle now assumed another role. By 
heavenly advice she had been content to guide the 
destiny of Charles ; now her " Voices " bade her 
command in person the army of France against 
the foe. The experienced military leaders, one and 
all, were discounted, and on September 8 she took 
actual command-in-chief, and opened the attack on 
Paris. It was on the waning of that fete-day of the 
Virgin that Jeanne, in all her flashing panoply of 
war, scaled the first ladder raised against the Port 
St. Denis ; but, alas ! before she could place her 
foot upon the battlement her thigh was pierced by 
an arrow, and she fell. Shades, too, of night were 
falling, and Pene sounded the retreat, whilst many 
a gallant heart trembled more for La Pucelle than 
for the temporary check. Helped by Guy de Laval 
and Jean de Clermont, as constant as himself, the 
young chief of the staff placed tenderly the wounded 
Maid upon a sumpter-horse, and himself led her to 
the nuns' quarters at the Chapelle de St. Denis hard 
by, and assisted to dress her wound. 

Pene rallied the flower of the French forces, and 
many a grizzled warrior and many a beardless recruit 
felt the influence of his enthusiasm — whilst all were 



JEANNE D'ARC 171 

ready to lay down their lives for La Pucelle, and 
mingle their blood with hers. A quaint couplet says : 

" La dit it mante la fibre bande 
Que lefier Prince Bene" commande I" 

Paris fell, and Charles came to his own, whilst 
Rene bade farewell to La Pucelle, and hurried off 
to Bar-le-Duc, where brave and fair Isabelle was 
holding her own and his with difficulty against 
unscrupulous and unpatriotic factions. Jeanne felt 
the absence of her most trusty ally keenly, and missed 
his energetic counsels ; but she bravery resumed the 
conduct of the war, instructed by her heavenly 
patrons. A crisis, however, was approaching — a 
crisis which was momentous in its consequence for 
herself. Called to give siege to Compiegne on May 24, 
1430, she was taken prisoner, and the hopes of 
France were wrecked. Without La Pucelle the 
fight was impossible, and Rene had gone too ! 

The rest of the story of La Pucelle is, alas ! 
soon told. What she said to Charles, Duke of 
Lorraine, at the outset of her mission might well be 
said of her now that she was hors de combat: 
" La lutte sera vive, mais fai le plan precis pour 
triompher !" (The struggle will be fierce, but I have 
a plan of certain victory !). It was said that Jeanne 
was captured by some archers from Picardy, who 
crept unseen between the legs of her escort. By 
them handed over to John, Duke of Luxemburg, she 
was sold to the English. The Tour de la Pucelle 
still marks the spot. Not a hand in France was 
raised to rescue the holy maiden. Charles himself, 
who owed all to her, seems to have forgotten her 
very soon after his return to Loches and to the arms 
of his " belle des belles,' 1 Agnes Sorel. Rene was fight- 



172 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

ing for his own in Lorraine and Bar, and could do 
nothing for his heroine. La Pucelle was taken 
from fortress to fortress, each prison being more 
fearsome than the last. She was subjected to insult 
and injury, treachery and outrage, and, deserted by 
everyone, she remained reliant only upon God. Her 
trial as an enemy and a sorceress was a mockery ; 
even her own people turned against her ; her straight- 
forward answers and her superhuman fortitude baffled 
her judges. At last she was condemned and shut up 
in a cage of iron, her feet fettered with irons, and her 
body stripped almost to nakedness. Alas that God, 
whose devoted servant she was, should have destined 
her to this last stage of despair ! Through all her 
bitter trials and sufferings she maintained an un- 
daunted demeanour. Were her "Voices" hushed 
now that she prayed for death ? When some English 
bigots approached to taunt her, she answered meekly : 
" Je sais bien que les Anglois me feront mourir " 
(I know perfectly well that the English will put me 
to death). 

A year's captivity and cruelty, harsh and revolting, 
found the spotless, unselfish, and pious " Maid of 
Orleans " in her twentieth year — alas ! so young to 
die — a human wreck ; but, mercifully, an end was 
put to her sufferings at Rouen on May 30, 1431. 
Burnt to death in the market-place, — calling upon 
Jesus, Mary, Michael, Catherine, and Margaret, — 
her fiendish murderers hardly allowed the fire to cool 
before they raked up her poor grey ashes, and then 
cast them with maledictions into the swirling Seine. 
So perished Jeanne d'Arc, the child of God, the 
deliverer of her country. Now her place is among 
the saints : she is St. Jeanne d'Arc. 



JEANNE DARC 173 

It was said that her heart was found intact after 
the fire had burnt itself out, and that as one stooped 
to pick it up a white dove fluttered before his face ! 
* * * #• * 

111 news travels apace. Rene de Bar et Lorraine 
heard of the tragedy at Rouen, and was broken- 
hearted. He dismissed his captains, his courtiers, 
and his minstrels, and shut himself up in his castle 
at Clermont, where he chided his soul with tears and 
fastings. His was the bitter cry : " Ma Royne 
blanche, Jeanne, est mort — helas ! ma Royne est 
mort /" 

The heart, too, of Charles, the King, reproached 
him before he died ; he could never really have for- 
gotten La Pucelle. A little girl was born to him 
and Queen Marie six months after Jeanne's martyr- 
dom ; her name was " Jeanne," as he said, "en recon- 
naissance et pour mes peche's." 

In the Register of Taxes the space against Dom- 
remy was left vacant until the great revolution, except 
for the entry : " Neant, a cause de la Pucelle.''' Her 
parents' cottage is still preserved, although the Bois 
Chenus is no more. The memory of Jeanne d'Arc 
will never die. 



CHAPTER VI 

MARIE D'ANJOU " LA PETITE REINE DE BOURGES 



" The little Queen of Bourges," — so called partly in 
derision, partly in pity, — but all the same one of the 
noblest and best Queens who ever shared the sove- 
reign throne of France : " noble," not so much in 
gradation of rank as in distinction of character ; 
" best," or " good," not in the sense of mock righteous- 
ness, but in the interpretation of whole-heartedness. 

Marie d'Anjou was the eldest daughter of King 
Louis II. and Queen Yolande of Sicily- Anjou-Naples- 
Provence. Born at Angers, October 14, 1404, she 
and her younger brother, Bene, four years her junior, 
grew up to love one another almost distractedly. So 
intense was this fraternal affection that their solicitous 
and resourceful mother viewed it with apprehension, 
fearing its consequences, — if left unchecked or un- 
diverted into a more natural channel, — the cloister. 
It was no part of the excellent training the Queen 
provided for her offspring to hide their futures under 
the garb of religion ; she had lofty ambitions for all 
her children, and those ambitions she lived to see 
realized. 

Marie d'Anjou's betrothal and marriage to Charles 

174 




MARIE d'aNJOU 
Prom a Painting of the School of Jean Fouquet (1460). National Gallery, London 



Tofacepagt 174 



MARIE D'ANJOU 175 

de Ponthieu, Dauphin of France, in 1422, was a 
supreme master-stroke of statecraft which only such 
a remarkable mother and Queen as Yolande of Sicily - 
Anjou could effect. She, with all her prescience, 
could not have forecast the future of France proper 
and her many sovereign sister States, which was, in its 
happy fruition, due to that far-seeing nuptial con- 
tract. Marie's son, Louis XL, made France one 
nation much as she is to-day. 

When Queen Yolande so anxiously took charge of 
the young Dauphin, and had him educated with her 
own children, she was quite prepared for any mental 
and physical development in her son-in-law which 
might be expected to result from his unhappy parent- 
age. No doubt she did what was possible to correct 
faults of heredity and to develop such latent excel- 
lencies as had not been wholly vitiated in the child's 
infancy. Still, we may be sure she had a heart full 
of trouble as she witnessed the degeneration of her 
son-in-law from paths of probity and virtue. 

In truth, the marriage of Princess Marie was, in a 
strict sense, a sacrifice and an oblation. The mating 
of her dearly loved daughter, a girl of unusual 
promise, with a youth of evil ancestry and unworthy 
predispositions must have cost the devoted mother 
much. 

Marie was remarkable for rare beauty of person — 
pale, with perfect features ; tall, with a graceful 
figure, and distinguished by her regal carriage. 

In personal appearance Charles was unattractive : 
his figure was insignificant and ill-formed ; his head 
was unduly large ; he had large feet and hands, 
whilst his legs were short and bowed, and this caused 
an ungraceful gait ; his face was sickly-looking and 

12 



176 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

pock-marked, with a prominent nose, a wide and 
sensual mouth, and a heavy jaw ; his eyes were small 
and somewhat crisscross ; he had coarse dark hair 
and heavy eyebrows. If his destiny had not been a 
throne, he might just as well have found his career in 
a stable. With all these personal disadvantages, 
Charles was naturally warm-hearted and affectionate ; 
he was possessed of a cool judgment, very affable and 
considerate, and, when roused, a very lion in the way. 
The marks of his evil mother's influence never left 
him ; the crushing of his natural inclinations and 
opportunities in childhood warped and unbalanced his 
mental calibre. 

It was said scoffingly of him by those who were 
bereft of feeling : " Le Dauphin est un fou, fils d'un 
insense et (Tune prostituee."* Jean Juvenal des 
Ursins perhaps went too far in the opposite direction, 
for in 1433 he wrote in his "Chronicle" concerning 
the King : " Sa vie est plaisante a Dieu ; il ny-a- 
en aucun vice."f 

The first notice we find of the life of Marie 
d'Anjou, however, does not refer to her union with 
Charles VII., but her betrothal, when only five years 
old, to Jehan de Beaux, Prince of Taranto, her kins- 
man. He was the son of the Prince of Taranto who 
accompanied King Louis II. , Marie's father, on his 
romantic journey to Perpignan, in 1399, to welcome 
Princess Yolanda d'Arragona. Descended in direct 
line from Charles, first Duke of Anjou, younger 
brother of St. Louis IX., his grandfather was 
Philippe, second son of Charles III. and Marguerite 

* "The Dauphin is a poor fool, the son of a madman and a 
prostitute." 

f "His manner of life is pleasant to God ; he has no vice." 



MARIE D'ANJOU 177 

of France. Through the last-named Princess a sad stain 
besmirched the shield of the silver lilies. Jehanne 
and Blanche de Luxembourg, daughters of Otto IV., 
Count of Burgundy, married respectively King 
Philippe the " Tall " and King Charles the "Fair" 
of France. Charged with witchcraft, they were 
imprisoned for life in the Chateau de Dourdan, where 
they were tonsured, scourged, and tortured — although 
they were the most beautiful and most highly 
cultured women of their day — together with their 
sister-in-law Marguerite, but she returned to her 
husband in 1314. Their terrible experiences were 
made traditional in the family, and, naturally, did 
not conduce to success in courtship. 

No doubt the idea which fixed itself in the minds 
of Louis II. and Yolande with respect to this 
betrothal was the strengthening of the claims of 
Anjou, of the younger line, upon the crown of 
Naples, by the alliance of the two branches of the 
house. Why this arrangement was set aside, or 
when, it is hard to say. Some chroniclers aver that 
the young Prince was drowned at sea off Taranto ; 
others, that he had different views ; and, more likely 
than all, others attribute the renunciation to the 
action of Queen Yolande, who, directly she had 
obtained charge of the person of the young Dauphin 
Charles, determined a more brilliant match politically, 
if a less attractive one psychologically. 

Possibly Queen Yolande hardly realized, at the 
date of that auspicious marriage, how its consumma- 
tion would affect herself. High-toned as she was, 
and assertive of Anjou's prestige, she could not know 
that Queen Isabeau's absolute declension from recti- 
tude would, by force of contrast alone, throw her 



178 REN^l D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

own worthy aims into emphatic prominence. That 
marriage was the opening of the portals of imperial 
interest to the personal guidance of the strongest 
mind and will in France. She became actually the 
power on the throne, not behind it. Her hand 
directed the issues of life and death between the rival 
Powers — France and England. Yolande became at 
once the ruler of France and the dictator of her 
foreign policy. What has history to say about all 
this ? Nothing, or next to nothing. Historians, — 
the most narrow-minded and most easily biassed of 
writers, — have not cared to trace and teach the 
ethics of the personality of this ruler of men and 
States. 

The genesis of the paramount influence of women 
in the public and private life of France was un- 
doubtedly in the reign of Charles VII. He was 
successively in the hands of Isabeau, his unworthy 
mother ; of Yolande, his noble mother-in-law ; of 
Marie, his much-enduring wife ; and of Agnes Sorel, 
his inspiring mistress. Happily for him, he was 
withdrawn early from the immediate care of Queen 
Isabeau, but her intrigues later on brought out the 
latent bad elements of his character. What saving 
grace was his was his through Yolande of Sicily- 
Anjou. His wife and his chief mistress were given 
him for two distinct purposes : Marie kept the wolf 
from the door and emboldened her faint-hearted 
spouse, whilst Agnes cheered his troubled spirit and 
impelled his motive-power. There is a quatrain 
of Francis I. which is interesting from the fact that 
his versification leaves it doubtful whether Marie or 
Agnes was actually his good genius : he names both in 
the first line : 



MARIE D'ANJOU 179 

" Gentille Marie (Agnes), plus d'honneur tu merite, 
La cause ttant de France recouvrer ; 
Que ce que peut dedans un cloitre ouvrer — 
Close nonain on bien dfaot hermite." * 

Marie and Rene d'Anjou and Charles de Ponthieu 
were educated together, and for four years or more 
were inseparable companions. The betrothal of 
Charles and Marie was effected at the Palace of the 
Louvre, December 18, 1413, in the presence of the 
King and Queen of France and of the King and 
Queen of Sicily- Anjou. Charles VI. was then still 
King of France, and fully in possession of his senses. 
His troubles, political and mental, ranged from 1417 
to 1422, when he had become no more than nominal 
Sovereign, driven from place to place, crushed, 
depressed, and suffering. Until his malady became 
hopeless, he was noted for his nobility of endurance, 
his chivalry of deportment, and his unselfish devotion 
to his duty. His Don Quixotic sort of life, however, 
was a mixture of smiles and frowns — joys and 
sorrows. Such a wife and mother as Queen Isabeau 
proved herself to be was quite enough to shatter the 
patience and the peace of the most stolid of men. 
There was not a more unhappy family in all France 
than that of its principal Soveregin, nor a more 
miserable home than that of its King. 

Still, there were not wanting human touches which 
paint the character of King Charles VI. in sympa- 
thetic colours. In the King's room at the Castle of 
Blois is a superb piece of tapestry, among many 
others, embroidered with the " Story of the Seigneur 

* " Gentle Marie (Agnes), thou hast gained all honour, 
Of France the new life thou wast inspirer ; 
But thou wast born to adorn the cloister, 
Enclosed nun or dedicated sister." 



180 REN^l D^ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

and Chatelaine de Courrages." The "Annates 
Frangais " recount the following narrative : " The 
Seigneur de Courrages was called upon by the 
Parliament of Paris to fight in the ' Lists ' with 
a certain Knight, Jehan Le Gris, for the honour 
of his wife, the Dame de Courrages. During the 
absence of her spouse in the Holy Land, the fair 
chatelaine gave her favours to an urgent lover, the 
Seigneur Le Gris, and he made love to her, quite 
naturally, in return. King Charles VI. was pre- 
siding at a tournament, and he noted the presence of 
the lady in question, but was amazed at her effrontery ; 
for she was seated, superbly attired, in her state 
chariot, in view of the whole assemblage, whereas 
the custom of the time should have found her upon 
her knees in her closet, praying for her good man. 
The King despatched a herald to the impudent 
hussy, with a message that ' it is inconceivable that 
anyone lying under so grievous a reproach should 
assume herself to be innocent till such time as that 
innocence shall have been made apparent.' The 
brazen dame was ordered at once to dismount from 
her carriage and retire to her manoir. She was 
unwilling to bow to the royal command, and, hearing 
of this, the King sent another messenger, who was 
instructed to conduct the fair and frail delinquent 
beneath a scaffold, where she was ordered to cry 
aloud to God for mercy, and to the King for 
clemency. In the issue of arms, luckily for her, 
fortune favoured her husband, who unhorsed his 
adversary, and, after pinning him to the ground with 
his sword, compelled him to confess the villainies he 
had committed with his wife. Then the unfortunate 
man was hurried off to the scaffold, — beneath which 



MARIE D'ANJOU 181 

Dame de Courrages was humbly kneeling, — and there 
and then hung up by the neck by way of justification 
of his miserable sweetheart." What happened to the 
frail woman the chronicler has failed to tell ; probably 
the Seigneur de Courrages took his erring wife home 
and administered a well-deserved flagellation in the 
privacy of his bedchamber, and condemned her to 
a period of imprisonment in the family dungeon upon 
a spare diet of bread and water ! Such was the 
wholesome discipline for marital infidelity in the days 
of chivalry ! 

The marriage of Charles, Count of Ponthieu, and 
Marie, Princess of Sicily- Anjou, was solemnized at 
St. Martin at Tours, January 15, 1422. It was a 
year of rejoicing in France, for on May Day her King 
by descent, Charles VI., and her King by conquest, 
Henry V., entered Paris riding side by side in a 
splendid triumph of peace. Charles's reason had 
returned to him with the return of happier days, and 
although the spectre of Isabeau was beside him, he 
managed to retain his senses and his vigour until 
October 21, when death mercifully heralded a new 
reign and a new regime in Paris. 

The Dauphin and Dauphine spent their short 
honeymoon at Loches and Bourges, whence they 
were called to attend the Kings in Paris, and there 
they remained till Charles VI. died. Thereafter 
troubles once more devastated fair suffering France : 
the peace was broken, and a broken band of fugitives 
fled the capital. The Court sought refuge at Bourges. 

" The King by misfortune in the warres grew so 
behindhand, both in fame and estate, that amongst 
other afflictions hee was subject to reproach and 
poverty, so that he dined in his small chamber 



182 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

attended only by his household servants. Pothou 
and La Hire, coming to Chateaudun to ask for 
succour, found him at table with no more than a 
rump of mutton and two chickens. He had neither 
wine nor dessert, and only two attendants, whilst his 
carriage had no relay of horses and only two grooms. 
He was reproached for his love of fair Agnes 
(Sorel), but the Bishop of St. Denis reported that hee 
loved her onely for her pleasing behaviour, eloquent 
speech, and beauty ; and that he never used any 
lascivious action unto her, nor never touched her 
beneath the chin." 

The Comptes de la Royne Marie record that the 
King and Queen were reduced to eat their meals off 
common pewter dishes, that they had little or no 
change of linen, and that the Queen sold all her 
jewels to purchase food and other necessaries. The 
townsfolk of the neighbourhood as well as the 
nobility contributed liberally to their Sovereigns' 
wants. Jacques Cceur of Bourges in particular 
rendered them hospitality, for he was accustomed to 
send in daily the royal supper at his own expense. 
Cceur was a merchant, a jeweller, and a wine-grower, 
and waxed rich in trade, but never wavered in his 
loyalty. He became Charles's treasurer, but after 
advancing him nearly 300,000 gold crowns, he was 
for some unknown reason cast into prison and con- 
demned to execution and the confiscation of his goods. 
Queen Marie pleaded for their faithful subject, and 
gained his reprieve, but Jacques Cceur never recovered 
his liberty nor his property. 

A gory stain was dashed upon the lily shield of 
France when the Duke of Burgundy was basely slain 
by Tanneguy de Chatel in the King's presence. He 



MARIE D'ANJOU 183 

had been one of Charles's most devoted adherents, for 
he it was who, in 1418, carried off the youthful 
Dauphin, wrapped in a piece of arras, for safety to the 
Bastile, and whence he was allowed to escape to 
Poitiers. It was a time of terrible disaster. Paris 
was in open revolution, and all the possessions of the 
Crown were threatened with destruction. The 
English were marching all over France unopposed, 
for the French Court and Government were divided 
by the feuds of rival leaders. On June 12 the 
starving populace of the capital burnt the Hotel de 
Ville, the Temple, and prison. Women were seized, 
outraged, and killed, and 1,600 murdered bodies were 
scattered in the streets and squares. The Count of 
Armagnac was the chief supporter of the Dauphin's 
party, but Queen Isabeau joined hands with Jean 
" sans Peur," Duke of Burgundy, against her 
husband, — alas ! now quite imbecile, — and her only 
son. 

A peace was patched up, and it was arranged that 
the Dauphin and the Duke should meet for mutual 
satisfaction at Montereau. The latter had no 
suspicion of foul-play, and Charles had no inkling 
of what was in de Chatel's mind. The meeting was 
arranged upon the stone bridge crossing the Seine, on 
September 10, 1419. There the Dauphin, in full 
armour, awaited his rival's approach. The Duke 
passed the two barriers on the bridge assured by the 
words : " Come if you please, Monseigneur. Fear 
not ; the Dauphin is awaiting you." At the young 
Prince's feet the proud Jean knelt and did homage, 
but Charles put out no hand to raise him graciously 
nor paid him any compliment, but brusquely ex- 
claimed : " Monseigneur, you and the Queen have 



184 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

disgraced France and me. I command you to leave 
that wicked woman alone and go back in peace to 
your dominions." 

The Duke, astounded, rose, and was about to offer 
some uncomplimentary reply, when he was struck 
down by Tanneguy de Chatel with his battle-axe, as 
he hissed out : " Thou art a traitor ! Go thy way, 
base Burgundy !" Twenty swords leaped from their 
scabbards and finished the dastardly deed, and Charles, 
shocked beyond expression, mounted his horse and 
galloped off. Queen Isabeau was at Troyes, where 
she had been exiled by her son's advisers, and the 
tragic death of her confederate roused the whole fury 
of her nature. She assembled the chief citizens, and 
made them an impassioned harangue : — 

" Consider the horrors, faults, and crimes, perpe- 
trated in this kingdom of France by Charles, soi- 
disant Dauphin of Vienne. It is here and now agreed 
that our son Henry, King of England, and our dear 
nephew, Philippe, Duke of Burgundy, shall not enter 
into relations with the said Charles." 

The assassination of the Duke of Burgundy 
weighed heavily upon the conscience of Charles ; 
he never concealed his wish that his mother's 
colleague should come by his end, but he never put 
his desire into exact words. 

The year 1422 saw Marie d'Anjou seated, at 
least metaphorically, upon the throne of France. 
Both Kings of France died soon after her marriage, 
— Henry V. on August 31, and Charles VI. on 
October 21, — and Charles VII. and Marie were 
proclaimed King and Queen of France at Mehun- 
sur - Yevre in Berry on November 1 follow- 
ing. They were crowned in Poitiers Cathedral on 




A BESIEGED CASTLE IN FRANCE 

From a Miniature, MS. Fourteenth Century, " Valeur Maxime 
British Museum 



To face page \S± 



MARIE D'ANJOU 185 

Christmas Day, where the new King had established 
his Parliament. 

The King and Queen made many progresses 
through their circumscribed dominions. The first 
was in the summer of 1423, when they made a 
state entry also into Angers, and heard Mass at 
the Cathedral of St. Maurice. They presented to 
the Chapter two superb pieces of tapestry, depicting 
the Old and New Testaments. The Queen's brother, 
Louis III., was of course in Italy, but the Duke 
of Bar-Lorraine and the Duchess Isabelle were there 
supporting the Queen-mother Yolande in rendering 
gracious hospitalities ; the citizens provided a 
mystery-play, and the Court a tournament. The 
royal couple were lodged in the castle, from the 
gateway of which Queen Marie addressed the 
assemblage of people : " Vos citoyens et habitans de 
la ville cV Anglers soyeant toujours loyaux et jideles 
d vostre sovereyns, et aussi des beaulx amis vers la 
couronne de France, laquelle je porte moi meme."* 
Vociferous plaudits hailed this declamation, and both 
Queen Yolande and Duke Rene made patriotic 
addresses. 

Five years later Charles and Marie entered 
Anjou and took up their residence at Saumur, where 
the King received the homage of no less a fellow- 
Sovereign than the Duke of Brittany, this being- 
due to the tactful policy of the Queen-mother. 
Charles also had a request to place before the loyal 
Angevines : he wanted money and men to carry on 
the ceaseless warfare against the English. In this 

* "You noble citizens and good inhabitants of this worthy city 
of Angers were ever famous for loyalty and fidelity to your 
Sovereigns, and, moreover, the best of friends to the Crown of 
France, which you see I wear. 



186 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

he admirably succeeded, and through Duke Rene 
he gained help from Lorraine and Bar besides. 

Marie, though the consort of a fugitive penniless 
King, had a suite worthy of herself and of her 
parentage and rank ; the Queen-mother saw to that. 
Her Controller was Hardoin de Mailly, and her 
Master of Horse Jacques Odon de Maulevrier, a 
devoted friend of her brother, Duke Rene. The 
Queen's four Dames d'Honneur were Catherine 
Bourgoing, Aimee de Beauvais, Philippe de la 
Rochefoucault, and Jeanne Sorel. Her Maids of 
Honour were Marie du Couldray, Jeanne de la 
Grosse, Catherine de Beauvais, Jeannett la Garrelle, 
Hervee Catherine de Montplaie, and Jehanne 
Biardelle, with three quite young girls whose Christian 
names alone have been preserved — Felize, Geffeline, 
and Jaequette — perhaps pet names. 

Duke Rene, ever a liberal-minded and open-handed 
Prince, gave each of his sister's ladies a robe of 
richest aigneaulx fur, with crimson satin lining, and 
twenty skins of martens for bordering their kirtle 
bodices. Each robe cost 16 florins ( = £12), and was 
supplied by the Queen-mother's furrier at Angers, 
one Martin Chebiton. 

The immodest fashions set by Queen Isabeau and 
the ladies of her Court, and their outrageous modes 
of headgear, did not go unrebuked by the better 
sort of clergy. A very famous preaching friar, one 
Thomas Correcte, a Carmelite monk from Brittany, 
in particular inaugurated a crusade against feminine 
extravagances through the North of France and in 
Flanders during the second decade of the fifteenth 
century. He further strenuously denounced the 
dignified clergy who kept fashionable mistresses. 



MARIE D'ANJOU 187 

He was welcomed heartily by the burghers of the 
towns through which he passed, and conducted to a 
special pulpit erected in the market-place, adorned 
with rich hangings and a gigantic crucifix. Guards 
of honour and musicians were at his service, and, 
in spite of opposition and natural predilections, the 
clergy fell into line with the popular fancy, and rang 
their bells on his arrival. His denunciations were 
quite in accord with the feelings of the people, but 
they incited the rougher element to take the law 
into their own hands. Squads of youths paraded 
the public thoroughfares in search of errant dames, 
and no sooner had their gaze alighted upon a lady 
of degree, coiffured a Voutrance, than a flight of 
stones, deftly aimed, quickly made havoc of her 
headgear. The popular cry, " Tin kennin! un 
hennin ! a has les hennins /" produced a panic, so 
that the women dared hardly sally forth from their 
own doors. It was said that the friar personally 
organized these demonstrations, and even paid the 
lads to disenchant the fair sex by forcibly pulling 
down their hideous superstructures. At all events, 
women with dishevelled heads and disordered attire 
ran hither and thither helpless and defenceless. 
The worthy and enthusiastic evangelist had, how- 
ever, an alternative fashion with which modest 
women might cover their heads and breasts. He 
prescribed the universal habit of wearing plain 
chapelles, the ordinary caps of peasant women. The 
raid, however, ceased to terrify the determined 
votaries of eccentricity in dress, and, as Monstrelet, 
the historian, pithily puts it, " Snails, when anybody 
passes near them, draw in their horns ; but when 
the danger is past they put them forth again." The 



188 REN£ D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

hennin, so called by Friar Correcte, became still 
more gigantic and grotesque, although Queen Marie, 
backed by her good mother, Queen Yolande, made loud 
protests and refused their favours to transgressors. 

With respect to indecency in dress, the preacher 
insisted upon running a thick cord between the men 
and women of his audiences. The mixing of the 
sexes in public he gravely denounced, and the bare- 
ness of women's breasts and the tightness of men's 
hose exctied his most eloquent tirades. The reason 
of the cord he quaintly phrased : " I perceive that 
sly doings will be going on !" The King of Sicily, 
Louis III., and Duke Rene, were quite in accord with 
the friar's philippics; but the "King of Bourges" 
was another sort of man, and much of the coolness 
which existed between himself and Queen Marie was 
due to her moderation in dress and quietness of 
manner. Charles, it was said, chanced to hear the 
friar one day at Ponthieu, where he was in residence, 
and ordered him to keep silence and depart. The 
friar retired to his monastery after a year of 
eloquence and exertions, but his animadversions upon 
the lives of the higher clergy led to his being 
summoned to Rome, to answer to certain charges 
of breach of monkish discipline and errors of doctrine. 
The poor man seems to have felt his position keenly, 
so keenly, indeed, that to escape judgment he jumped 
out of the window of his cell and decamped. Being 
quickly captured, he was arraigned before the Holy 
Office of the Inquisition, and condemned to be burnt 
as a heretic. Perhaps he deserved punishment for 
his unguarded language, but he paid dearly indeed 
as a reformer of gay women's fashions and gross 
parsons' passions ! 



MARIE D'ANJOU 189 

The years 1427 and 1428 saw France plunged in 
warfare. King Charles shook himself, metaphori- 
cally, and registered a vow that he would drive out 
every " desecrating English dog." He bestirred him- 
self, and led forlorn hopes here and there, only to 
meet with disaster ; and then he gave way to despair, 
and declared that he would do no more for France or 
for himself. Queen Marie, with true Anjou-Aragon 
grit, chided him with his faint-heartedness, and one 
day she surprised him greatly by appearing in a full 
suit of armour and armed, and declared that " If you, 
Charles of France, will not lead your troops, I will !" 
Her example was contagious, for within a week scores 
of loyal, devoted women assumed mail and stood for 
the weal or woe of France. These heroic doings 
were noised abroad, and possibly they had effect in a 
very unexpected quarter, for in 1429 another heroine 
appeared in armour from the eastern frontier of 
France, and made good woman's claim to military 
prowess. Thus quaintly wrote Monstrelet of her : 

"In the course of this year (1429) a young girl 
called Jehanne, about twenty years of age, and 
dressed like a man, came to Charles, King of France, 
at Chinon. She was born in the village of Droimy, 
on the borders of Burgundy and Lorraine, not far 
from Vaucouleurs. She had been for some time an 
ostler and chambermaid at an inn, and had shown 
much courage in riding horses to water and in other 
feats unusual for young women to do. She called her- 
self a ' Maiden inspired by the Divine Grace/ and said 
that she was sent to restore Charles to his kingdom." 

Very little has been recorded of what Queen Marie 
felt and said concerning that strange visitor. Nobody 
in all that recklessly gay Court at Chinon viewed the 



190 rene d'anjou and his seven queens 

coming of the maid of Domremy more eagerly or 
more hopefully than did she. She had failed to 
rouse the King to strike a new blow for his throne, it 
is true, but she anxiously prayed that this heaven- 
sent village girl might be the means of doing so. 
The Queen gave La Pucelle a most sympathetic 
welcome. The mysteries of devotion and the dictates 
of religion had in her a very reverent disciple. Apart- 
ments were prepared for Jeanne's reception quite near 
her own boudoir and private oratory, and its priest 
was placed at her disposal. 

If Jeanne was dumbfounded at the spectacle of a 
King wholly apathetic to the duties of his high station, 
and of a Court abandoned, in the midst of dire 
disaster, to all the frivolities of the idle and the disso- 
lute, she had at least one solace. The beautiful and 
serious face of the young Queen was to her a comfort 
and a stay. Looking from one bedizened beauty to 
another in that fatuous assembly, her eyes fastened 
themselves upon the one figure that was dissimilar to 
the rest, — the figure of a good woman, the daughter 
of the good Queen Yolande. She looked to her like 
what she conceived of her own saintly Margaret, of 
the Bois de Chenus. Marie received her unsophisti- 
cated visitor with emotion. She entered fully into 
her story, and conversed daily with her in private 
about herself, her home, her mission, and her 
" voices," and thus she gained the girl's confidence 
and her love. If Jeanne had conceived profound 
veneration for Queen Yolande, — she even called her 
" my St. Catherine," — her sentiments towards Queen 
Marie were those of the most tender affection. Marie, 
so near her own age, so modest, so simple, and so 
true, became Jeanne's confidant and loving patroness. 



MARIE D'ANJOU 191 

To Marie the mere sight of the girl and her frank, 
girlish ways was quite sufficient, had she sought for 
proof positive, to dispel from her mind any suspicions 
which may have been forced upon her about Jeanne's 
relations with her dear brother, Rene de Bar. Of 
course, she knew him far too well to credit any tales 
of faithlessness or dishonour on his part. He and 
she had been, till he was carried off to Bar-le-Duc by 
the good Cardinal Louis de Bar, the very dearest and 
most intimate of playmates in and out of school. 
Their intercourse had never ceased ; such never fails 
between kindred souls, though parted by hemispheres. 
Rene was a just man still, and a true knight. Jeanne 
likened him to her own St. Michael. 

All through Jeanne's ordeals, — first the open scoffs 
of the courtiers and servitors at Chinon, then the 
covert jeers of the divines and busybodies at Poitiers, 
and lastly the base insinuations of libertines and 
adventurers, — the Queen stood by La Pucelle. 
Queen Yolande's panel of matrons found Marie's 
tribute of the utmost value ; she staked her royal 
prerogative upon the girl's absolute chastity, and the 
prying, posturing Court bowed to her decision. 

If Queen Yolande clothed the maid in shining 
armour within the great Hall of Audience of Angers 
Castle, on the eve of the advance upon Orleans, 
Queen Marie knelt with her in prayer in the solemn 
choir of Angers Cathedral from Vespers to Compline. 
How much of her strength of will and the prompt- 
ness of her action Jeanne d'Arc gained from the 
whole-hearted favour of these two good Queens the 
world may never know, but this much we all can 
apprehend : that unselfish human sympathy is a more 
mobile force than the uncertainties of Providence. 

13 



192 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

We can never know why Queen Marie was denied 
the satisfaction of witnessing and sharing in the 
coronation of Charles at Reims. She was living 
quietly at Bourges when the King set off for the 
metropolitical cathedral under the conduct of La 
Pucelle and of her brother Rene. She was prepared 
for the expedition, and her robes of state were ready 
for the ceremony, when suddenly Charles commanded 
her to remain where she was, saying that the march 
was full of dangers and quite impossible for the Queen 
and her ladies. La Pucelle begged the King to 
recall his prohibitions, saying that Queen Marie was 
quite as worthy as was he to receive a crown. The 
poor Queen put by her finery, — perhaps not altogether 
sorrowfully, — and went to reflect awhile at Gien upon 
the untowardness of human affairs in general and the 
inconsequences of Charles in particular. Her parting 
with Jeanne was affecting ; Queen and peasant em- 
braced each other affectionately — and never more 
they met. 

II. 

After the disastrous battle of Bulgneville, Duchess 
Isabelle of Lorraine set off to Vienne in Dauphin^, a 
province which ever remained faithful to the royal 
house of France, where the Court of Charles VII. 
was established, to claim his aid for her captive 
husband languishing at Bracon. In her train went 
her fairest Maid of Honour, Agnes Sorel, just twenty 
years of age ; she was Mistress of the Robes to the 
Duchess. She made an immediate impression upon 
the jejune King, who urged Isabelle to allow her to 
be transferred to the suite of his consort — perhaps by 
way of quid pro quo. Queen Marie added her 



MARIE D'ANJOU 193 

entreaties to the monarch's suit. She had failed 
completely to rouse her husband ; perhaps she 
thought Agnes would be more successful. The 
Duchess would not hear of the arrangement, and the 
beauteous Maid of Honour was anything but eager to 
be the creature of so unattractive a master. 

Happier days, however, dawned both for King 
Rene and for King Charles, and jousts, pageants, and 
mystery-plays, were in full fling everywhere. At 
Angers, in particular, everything was gay and merry 
for the welcome of King Rene to his ancestral home, 
— after his duress at Tour de Bar, — and of Queen 
Isabelle. Agnes Sorel was still attached to her royal 
mistress, and, although unmarried, she numbered her 
lovers by the score. 

Agnes Sorel, or Soreau, was born at Fromenteau, 
on the verge of the forest of Fontainebleau, on 
May 17, 1409. Her father was the Sieur Jehan 
Soreau, and her mother Catherine de Maignelais, who 
were quiet country people and occupied in agricul- 
tural pursuits. She had a younger sister, Jehanne, to 
whom she was devoted, and mothered her when Dame 
Catherine died. Her uncle, Raoul de Maignelais, 
followed the profession of arms, and made himself a 
name as a dauntless warrior in the service of King 
Charles VI. He had an only daughter, Antoinette, 
born 1420, who, her mother dying when she was 
very young, was confided to the care of her aunt, 
Catherine Soreau, and was brought up by her with 
her own little daughters. Nothing is positively 
known about Agnes's girlhood, but in 1423 the two 
cousins entered the service of Isabelle, the Duchess 
of Bar-Lorraine. Bar-le-Duc, ever since the advent of 
the famous Countess Iolande, had been remarkable for 



194 REN£ D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

the number of lovely damsels and comely youths 
from all parts of France attached to the " Court of 
Love," under the patronage and maintenance of the 
Dukes and Duchesses. The young Duchess appears 
to have taken a particular fancy to fair Agnes, due 
no doubt to the girl's physical beauty and mental 
brilliance. Few maidens at that merry Court 
excelled her in good looks, grace of figure, and 
distinction of deportment. Bourdigne, the Court 
chronicler, says " she was the most lovely girl in 
France." She sang divinely, — a natural gift, — and 
danced bewitchingly, and gave promise of a splendid 
career. She was welcomed at Chinon with delight 
both by the King and Queen. 

Perhaps one reason why Agnes's presence was so 
grateful to the taciturn and indolent monarch was 
that she dressed so superbly, and yet so tastefully. 
The Queen and her ladies were subject to strict 
Court sartorial conventions, but the Demoiselle de 
Fromenteau knew no such restrictions. One day 
" la Belle des Belles" as everybody called her, 
appeared as " Cleopatra," another as " Diana," and 
a third as " Venus," and so on. Her costumes were 
of the richest and the thinnest. Her abundant 
beautiful brown hair, too, she dressed not only for 
the liennin a la mode, — bunched over the ears or 
gathered into a chignon, — but a la calotte galonnee : 
frizzed out, or en simple resille — in a net, or a tours, 
thrown round and round her head in massive coils. 
Agnes was short of stature, but she made up for 
this by wearing Venetian zilve, or high pattens, 
beautifully embroidered with silk and pearls. Her 
decolletage was never vulgar or immodest, like that 
of the King's mother, but her well-formed bust was 




KING RENE AND HIS COURT 
From a Miniature by King Rene in his "Breviary." Musee de 1' Arsenal, Paris 



To face page 104 



MARIE D'ANJOU 195 

covered lightly by white lace or thinnest gauze. A 
string of pearls usually embraced her well-shaped 
throat. One article of clothing was peculiarly her 
own invention. Whilst the ladies of the Court, and 
even Queen Marie herself, wore serge chemises, hers 
were of fine Flemish linen. Very many of her 
tasteful fancies were taken up by the ladies about 
her, and Queen Marie herself followed suit by dis- 
carding the daily use of the hennin and the stiff and 
heavy fur borders of her kirtle. She, too, had hair 
as fair as that of Agnes, and she was privately quite 
as proud of it as was her Dame d'Honneur, for so " la 
Belle des Belles " had become. 

A pretty story is told of " la Belle des Belles " 
with respect to the melancholy moods of King 
Charles. One day Charles was more than usually 
depressed, and, try how she would, Queen Marie 
could not cheer him ; so she sent for Agnes, who at 
once ran to her mistress, and, then entering the 
King's presence, knelt at his feet and fondled his 
knees. " Sire," she said, " when I was a very little 
girl a soothsayer told my mother that I should be 
the plaything of a King who would be the most 
valiant in Europe. I thought that your Majesty 
was such an one, but I find that I am mistaken. 
Perhaps I ought to have sought the Court of Henry 
rather than that of Charles !" The King frowned, 
but the bantering words had struck home, and he 
raised himself and Agnes, and, kissing her affection- 
ately, replied : " No, my sweet, you have no need to 
seek Henry. I am your valiant King I" 

Agnes held Charles under a spell. She was his 
" Queen of Hearts "; he denied her nothing, her will 
was his. Her influence was complete, and if the 



196 RENti DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

poor neglected Queen had thrown upon her frail 
shoulders the heavy weight of sovereignty, it was 
fond Agnes's fair hair that wore the light crown of 
gaiety. Her tact and unselfishness were remarkable ; 
every domestic squabble and every State imbroglio 
were quietly and swiftly settled when she joined the 
fray. Charles could not do enough for his sweet- 
heart. Besides costly presents of jewellery and 
clothes, he bestowed upon her the county of Pen- 
thievre, the lordships of Roquecesiere, Issoudon, and 
Vernon, with the Castle of Breaute and its great 
woods of pine-trees. 

Agnes had by Charles four daughters ; the 
youngest died in infancy, but the rest grew up, like 
their mother, famed for good looks and attractive 
manners, and were legitimatized and married well. 
Catherine de France, the eldest, wedded, in 1464, 
Jacques de Breze, Comte de Maulevrier, and became 
the accomplished chatelaine of his splendid castle near 
Saumur. Alas for the joys of married life ! the 
Count, himself unfaithful and intolerant, grew 
suspicious of his wife's conduct, — she had attracted 
the attention of King Rene, among others, — accused 
her of adultery, and stabbed her as she was sallying 
forth one dark November day, 1477, bent upon an 
errand of charity. Their son, Louis de Breze, 
became the husband of the celebrated Diane de 
Poitiers, in 1572, before her liaison with King 
Henry II. Marguerite de France married, in 145 8, 
Seigneur Olivier de Coetivi, and died in 1473 ; and 
Jeanne de France became the wife of Antoine de 
Benil, Comte de Sancerre, and received from the 
King, her father, a dot of 40,000 ecus d'or. 

These three daughters were born and educated as 



MARIE UANJOU 197 

Princesses of the Royal House, in conformity with 
the existent code of morals. Queen Marie not only 
made no demur at their status, but, acting upon the 
advice of good Queen Yolande, her mother, treated 
them in every respect as she did her own offspring. 
When Agnes's second daughter was married, the 
Queen stood by her and gave her rich wedding 
presents. Certainly she was not subjected to the 
indignity of sharing hearth and home with her 
husband's mistress. Dame Agnes Sorel resided at 
her own Castle de Breaute-sur-Marne, and there she 
bore him her family. The castle was a bijou resi- 
dence, — a great favourite of Charles, — and Agnes 
made it a habitation of beauty, adorned not alone by 
her own gracious presence, but by the attendance of 
a brilliant Court, quite outrivalling that of the modest 
Queen, and filled her rooms and galleries with the 
countless beautiful and costly gifts of her former 
devoted mistress, Duchess Isabelle. 

Agnes's ascendancy over Charles VII. was purely 
erotic. She exercised no influence whatever upon 
the affairs of state, or, indeed, upon anything but what 
ministered to his personal pleasure and amusement. 
However, she was useful, and indeed invaluable, on 
more than one occasion of danger and suspicion. 
Unreservedly devoted to her paramour, she was 
sensitive of any dereliction of duty and of any 
appearance of intrigue. To her was solely due the 
detection of the conspiracy of 1449, which, fomented 
by the Dauphin, threatened the life of the King. 

Marie inspired the fervent love of her son, Louis 
the Dauphin, as she did, in truth, the devotion of all 
her children. When a stripling of fourteen, he 
championed his mother against his father's mistress ; 



198 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

and when Agnes made a disparaging remark affect- 
ing the Queen, the lad immediately boxed her ears, 
and warned her never to repeat the offence in his 
hearing ! From that day Louis hated " la Belle des 
Belles," and never tired of checking her assumptions. 
He even dared to protest personally before his father 
against the King's neglect of the Queen and his 
partiality for her Lady of Honour. Charles on one 
occasion took his son's strictures seriously to heart, 
sent for Marie, bewailed his infidelity, and craved her 
pardon. But the wanton monarch's day of righteous- 
ness was short, for he very soon forgot his son's 
vehemence, and went on fondling his favourite. 

" La Belle des Belles " died in childbed on 
February 18, 1450. Her end was quite unexpected, 
for she had gone on a visit of pleasure to her cousin, 
Antoinette de Maignelais, the Baroness of Ville- 
requier, at the Castle of Mesnil la Belle, near the 
far-famed Abbey of Jumieges in Normandy. Her 
husband, Andre de Villerequier, was Chamberlain to 
Charles VII., who presented her at her bridal, as a 
wedding gift, the three islands, Oleron, Marennes, 
and Auvert, at the mouth of the River Charente. 
Floral games and spectacles were engaging the 
attention of the merry party assembled at the 
castle, and Agnes Sorel was the gayest of the gay, 
but unfortunately, tripping upon the sash of her 
gown, she fell heavily to the ground. She was 
carried tenderly to her chamber, and at once her life 
was despaired of. She had barely time to make her 
confession, and then, calling to mind the example 
of St. Mary Magdalene, she called aloud to Heaven 
for pardon of her sins and for the prayers of those 
standing by. She heard Mass and received the Last 



MARIE DANJOU 199 

Sacraments, and painfully passed away in her cousin's 
arms. The distracted Baroness laid the dead head 
of the lovely Agnes gently upon the pillow, closed 
the eyes which had spell-bound King Charles and 
many more besides, and, weeping bitterly, exclaimed : 
" The good God has taken away my Agnes because 
He feared she would never lose her beauty." 

King Charles was not with his sweetheart in her 
death, but he grieved and rocked himself in woe. 
" Because she was what she was," he sobbed, " for 
that I mourn." He hastened to Jumieges, and 
with every mark of sincere affection he assisted in 
placing his Agnes in her coffin. Her heart he had 
enclosed in a costly gold vase, which he carried 
about with him wherever he went, and when he 
died it was deposited by his command beneath a 
black marble slab in front of the high-altar of 
Jumieges, with the simple epitaph : " Agnes Seurelle 
-—Dame de Breaute." Fair Agnes's body, still 
comely in death, was ultimately translated by Charles 
to Loches, and interred in the basement of the King's 
Apartments. Her tomb, surmounted by a statue, 
was erected by her royal lover. Upon a block marble 
bed reclines a white marble effigy of "la Belle des 
Belles,' 7 evidently sculptured after life. The fascina- 
ting features with her sweet smile are beautifully 
chiselled, and the graceful figure lightly covered by 
a long chemise admirably exhibits her exquisitely- 
proportioned form. 

Agnes, in a will she made a year before her 
death, directed that her body should rest at Jumieges, 
and she bequeathed 1,000 ecus d'or ( = £500) to 
the monastery for Masses for the rest of her soul. 
She had for years been a munificent benefactress to 



200 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

the clergy of the abbey. When Charles had joined 
his sweetheart in the Paradise of Love, the ungrate- 
ful monks were desirous of removing Agnes's heart 
and its memorial tablet, on the score that she had 
led an immoral life ; but Louis XL, in spite of his 
fierce hatred of his father's mistress, reproved the 
religious, and warned them that, if they determined 
to cast out her remains, they must also divest them- 
selves of the gifts and legacies of their patroness. 
" If you," the new King said, " disturb her ashes, I 
shall expect you to hand over to me the gold ecus." 
Needless perhaps to say, the worldly-wise Canons 
kept the money and the heart. 

The death of Agnes Sorel had a terrible effect upon 
the subsequent life of Charles the King. She and 
Queen Marie between them had managed to keep 
him free from amorous imbroglios, but now, with 
only his wife's protestations to guard him, he gave 
way to immoderate indulgences, and he, to quote the 
French, — " enlardit sa vie de tenir males femmes en 
son hostel!" 

III. 

" Everything must be sacrificed for the glory of 
France !" was no empty, echoing cry in a desert ; it 
was the pleading and persistent cry of a devoted 
wife and a patriotic Queen. Into the ears of the 
King of France and into the ears of everybody who 
was even in the smallest degree likely to be able 
to do anything at all for her beloved country, the 
admirable Queen Marie poured her complaint. She 
stood for the expulsion of the English invaders of 
her native soil, and for the composure of the feuds 
and jealousies of the French Sovereigns and nobles. 



MARIE DANJOU 201 

" God and reason," she went on to exclaim, " are on 
my side ; rouse you like men and fight !" Surely he 
is a coward or a simpleton in whose heart a woman's 
voice and a woman's taunts fail to enkindle en- 
thusiasm. All France flocked to do homage to the 
" little Queen of Bourges," to kiss her hand, and to 
lay their swords at the feet of the King. From 
Loches to Chinon and Tours, right down the river 
valley of the Rhone, and throughout Dauphine, that 
voice went echoing. The new campaign was hers, 
hers the credit, hers the glory, for great deeds were 
done that shamed men's apathy. 

Alas ! her enthusiasm found faint response in 
Charles. A skit of the time denounced hirn thus : 
" Nouvelle du Roy nullement ; ne que se il fust a 
Romme oue Jherusalemme /" — " The King is of no 
use whatever ; he might as well be at Rome or at 
Jerusalem !" Still, the Queen did not fail for loyal 
soldiers nor for consummate captains ; first and fore- 
most was her beloved brother Rene, now King of 
Sicily- Anjou. 

But now enemies more terrible than the hated 
English, more insidious than the squabbling Princes, 
stalked the broad plains of suffering France — the 
three fell sisters, famine, flood, and fever. The price 
of foodstuffs rose portentously ; wheat, butter, oil, 
and cheese, were a hundred times dearer than their 
usual cost. Men grovelled like pigs for offal, and 
women and children laid themselves down to die 
just where they were. Queen Marie's tender heart 
grieved sorely for her people's misery. She sold 
what jewellery she had left, and pawned her available 
property to minister to the prevailing want. And 
then a new terror seized the land — the rivers were 



202 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

in flood, and what stocks and crops the famine had 
left were washed away, and beggary stared the 
nation in the face. The Queen instituted pilgrimages 
of women to celebrated shrines, and she herself put 
on the deepest mourning and spent her time in 
prayer. All seemed to be of no avail to stay the 
afflicting hand of Heaven, for no sooner were the 
waters abated than the scourge of fever was let loose 
on the devoted land of France, and corpses were 
flung out of echoing doorways and left for chance 
burial, or to be the prey of scavaging dogs. Had 
the Day of Judgment dawned ? men asked each other, 
whilst they promptly covered their mouths against 
the infection. Delirium would have seized all the 
remnants of the population had not the intrepid 
Queen ridden up and down, risking her own precious 
life and appealing to one and all to be courageous, 
bear all, and hope for better days. 

Marie had happy days and proud to cancel days 
of gloom and penury. Toulouse was en fete ; it was 
the month of May, 1435, best loved of all the 
children of Mary ; and she made a stately entry 
into that ancient, loyal city with the King by her 
side. Oddly enough, she was mounted on pillion 
behind her young son, the Dauphin Louis, then a lad 
of twelve. Her vesture was superb — a blue brocaded 
satin robe, bordered heavily with royal ermine. She 
was de'colletee, her bosom covered with jewels and 
chains of gold. Upon her head, rising out of a 
regal diadem of flashing gems, she wore a chaperon, 
a hood of fine white cambric shaped like a crescent, 
raised at the points, and lightly covered with a thin 
white gauze veil. Her hair was bunched over her 
ears, and carried in a golden jewelled net. Her feet 



MARIE DANJOU 203 

were shod in white, gold-embroidered kid, and she 
wore, after her mother's fashion, jewelled white kid 
gloves. Four Chamberlains, also mounted, held a 
state canopy of cloth of gold and white plumes over 
their royal mistress and her white charger. 

A bright day dawned for Queen Marie. It was 
the Festival of the Forerunner, June 24, 1436, and 
the ancient and loyal city of Tours was decked for the 
royal nuptials of the Dauphin. The King and Queen 
of France with the good Queen Yolande and their 
suite awaited at the Chateau du Plessis-les-Tours 
the arrival of the young bridal couple. Louis had 
gone to meet his bride at Saumur ; he was but a boy 
of thirteen, small, ill-looking, and not too clever. 
Princess Margaret, daughter of James I. of Scotland, 
with a following of Scottish nobles and Maids of 
Honour, a tall, sprightly girl of twelve, vastly enjoyed 
her voyage, and clapped her hands delightedly at the 
flowers and fruits of Anjou. She embraced her little 
husband-to-be, and took him by the hand as they 
stepped on board the state barge in waiting at the 
river quay. 

Among the bevy of fair maidens who welcomed 
the royal bride was Jehanne de Laval, who was 
attached to the suite of the Dauphiness. The grand 
hall of the castle and state-rooms were hung with 
tapestry and lengths of cloth of gold. There the 
Sovereigns were seated on a canopied dais, wearing 
their crowns and robes of state. The little Princess 
entered the Presence somewhat nervously, still hold- 
ing the hand of the young Dauphin, and chaperoned 
by her Scottish Mistress of the Robes. Making a 
graceful obeisance, Margaret advanced with childlike 
confidence, and Queen Marie, rising, went to greet 



204 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

her young daughter-in-law ; she embraced her 
tenderly, and introduced her to the King and to 
Queen Yolande. The courtiers pressed forward to 
kiss the Princess's hand, and many costly gifts 
were laid at her feet. Wearied at length with the 
ceremonies, Queen Marie conducted her interesting 
visitor to her own apartments, where dinner was 
served. 

The bells of all the churches in Tours set up merry 
janglings at dawn next day, and the cathedral was 
crowded by a goodly company of wedding guests. 
The King and the two Queens were seated on their 
thrones. Charles wore a black velvet doublet and 
hose, his berretta was of red, and he bore round his 
neck a decoration sent from the King of Scotland. 
The Queen was arrayed in crimson velvet and ermine. 
She wore an abbreviated hennin with a fine lace 
fall ; her hair was embroidered with gold. The 
young Prince was in blue and silver, his bride in 
bridal white. Everybody bore wedding favours — 
Scottish heather and French lilies entwined with 
white satin ribbons. The Archbishop of Reims per- 
formed the ceremony, accompanied by a number of 
Bishops and dignified clergy. 

Margaret at once became a great favourite with 
the King and Queen. Her Northern vigour and 
sweet manners were good credentials ; but, unhappily, 
the young bridegroom from the first took a dislike 
to his consort. She was never happy when he was 
present, and her furtive eyes searched in vain for 
tokens of affection and camaraderie. " There was 
no one," wrote Philippe de Commines a few years 
later, " in all the world whom she dreaded more than 
the Dauphin." Her life was indeed a sad one ; 



MARIE D'ANJOU 205 

neglected by her husband, misunderstood and dis- 
esteemed at Court, the poor young Dauphiness passed 
her time mostly with Queen Marie and in futile 
regrets for her dear, dear home in Scotland. 

Her death came about most unexpectedly, for she 
was discovered poisoned, — rumour had it by her 
spouse, — in her boudoir at Sarry-le-Chateau, on 
August 16, 1444, an ill-used wife of no more than 
twenty years of age. Princess Margaret's fate was 
as sad as sad could be — too young to die. Her last 
words, — the most pathetic ever uttered by an 
unhappy woman, — were addressed to her faithful 
chaperon : "A curse on life ! don't speak to me 
about it !" No child, perhaps happily, was born of 
that ill-starred marriage. 

No one wept more bitterly at this mischance than 
tender-hearted Queen Marie. She loved her son to 
distraction, and he loved her as greatly in return ; 
and she had learned to love Margaret too, but 
nothing that she could say moved Louis to love, 
honour, and comfort, his young wife. Calm, crafty, 
and selfish, like his father, and vindictive, Louis's 
character may be succinctly stated as he himself 
wrote it : " The King knows not how to rule who 
knows not how to dissemble. ... If my cap should 
know my thoughts, I would burn it !" 

Queen Marie's other son, Charles, Due de Berry, 
the last of all her surviving children, born December 
28, 1446, was a Prince of no strength of character. 
Easily led by others, he became involved in endless 
imbroglios, and aided and abetted his elder brother 
the Dauphin, in his unfilial conduct towards their 
father. Created Duke of Guienne and Duke of 
Normandy in 1469, — after the expulsion of the 



206 RENE" D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

English, — he was a source of constant anxiety and 
trouble to his mother. The Queen of Sicily-Anjou, 
Isabelle de Lorraine, his godmother, with King 
Rene, took the young Prince in hand, but he did 
not well repay their solicitude. Immoral, dissipated, 
and in debt, Charles de Berry spent his time in 
debauches and intrigues ; he was own grandson of 
Isabeau the Infamous. Among his many mistresses, 
Derouillee de Montereau, widow of Louis d'Amboise, 
exercised the greatest influence. She, too, was the 
cause of his death, for at lunch one day she placed 
a peach in his wineglass, and she challenged Charles 
to bite the fruit with her. Her half she swallowed, 
and she fell dead in a few minutes, whilst her royal 
paramour lingered in acute suffering for three whole 
days, and at last succumbed to the poison on May 28, 
1472. Whether she caused the fruit to be poisoned 
we know not ; most likely she knew all about it, and 
only followed in the steps of those whose immorality 
turns love to hate and sanctity to madness. This 
was a characteristic of society in the Renaissance, the 
cloven hoof of the old Adam showing beneath the 
sumptuous garments of the new man. 

As might very well have been expected at a Court 
of self-seekers and sycophants, the integrity and un- 
selfishness of the Queen were goads to slander and 
aids to hypocrisy. She was assailed on account of 
her absolute faithfulness to the marriage bond and for 
her want of personal ambition. Roues could not 
understand her ; mondaines would not tolerate her ; 
the King's favourites and mistresses, — not Agnes 
Sorel, be it said, — strove all they could to poison his 
mind against his consort. The names of many 
prominent Princes and courtiers were linked scandal- 



MARIE DANJOU 207 

ously with the Queen's. Arthur de Bichemont, son* 
of Duke Jehan VI. of Brittany, the Constable of 
France ; Pierre de Giae de la Tremouille, Captain of 
the King's Guards ; Etienne Louvet, President of the 
Privy Council ; and the Count of Dunois, better 
known as the " Bastard of Orleans," were all said to 
have shared the Queen's confidences and her favours. 
The latter was thrown, indeed, very much with Her 
Majesty, and ranked among the Princes of the Boyal 
House. Son of the assassinated Duke of Orleans by 
an unknown mother, the Duchess brought him up 
along with her own children, and she hoped he would 
live to avenge his father's death. The " Bastard " 
was the playmate of the children of King Louis II. 
of Sicily- Anjou and Queen Yolande, and he and 
the Princess Marie were much drawn to one 
another. 

The two young people were one day in the gardens 
of the Hotel de St. Pol along with the Comte de 
Ponthieu, — Charles VII., — and the Princes and Prin- 
cesses of Sicily- Anjou, when the Count, wearied of 
his forced attentions to the Princess Marie, sauntered 
away by himself. Xaintrailles followed him and 
remonstrated with him for his coolness to his fiancee. 
Charles replied that they were not fully betrothed, 
and that he did not admire and did not love Marie. 
Xaintrailles told Dunois what the Count had said, and 
Dunois, with a scornful laugh, exclaimed : " One 
must be dull and blind indeed not to be smitten by 
her eyes — the most beautiful eyes in the whole world, 
and quite incapable of seeing the faults of others." 
Dunois was very much in love with the Princess, and 
did not conceal his passion, so much so that when he 
kissed her hand, as he often did, he also lifted the 

14 



208 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

hem of her skirt and implanted a kiss there, as a 
lover's token of humility. 

Dunois contrived tStes-a-tete as often as he could 
with his sweetheart, as he called Marie d'Anjou. 
One day, it is said, Charles passed down a sheltered 
path in the gardens, and his companion pointed out 
to him a couple love-making in a secluded arbour. 
They chided him with the feebleness of his suit, and 
told him it would serve him right if Marie married 
Dunois. He said he did not care a bit if she did or 
if she did not. They were all mere children — the 
Count sixteen, Marie fifteen, and Dunois of a like 
age. The intimacy between the Princess and her 
lover became embarrassing to the whole Court, but 
time went on, and developments were awaited by the 
curious and intriguing. A summer's day came when 
some ladies of the Court went wandering about 
searching for shady shelters. Right away from the 
palace, near a springing fountain, they came upon a 
crossing in the path, and there in the sandy dust 
they read, written by a stick or something : 

" Destin qui va m'unir d'une Sternelle chaine 
A V object de rna haine — 
Cruel destin, arrache de mon coeur 
Une troj) vive ardeur." * 

Puzzling over the meaning of this strange verse, 
the ladies beheld the Princess hastening to where 
they stood. With heightened colour she asked them : 
" What are you doing here ? Why are you not with 
the Queen of Sicily ?" Then effacing the writing 

* "Fate which would rivet me with a perpetual chain 
To the object of my deep disdain — 
0, cruel fate ! which would snatch from my poor 
worn heart 
A passion full of ardour on my part." 



MARIE D'ANJOU 209 

with her foot, she added : " I cannot think why I did 
not efface those words ; I have committed an indis- 
cretion. But take note I did not name the unhappy 
person who wrote them." The romance went on un- 
checked. Dunois, still under age, very adroitly con- 
trived to remove the suspicions his conduct had 
aroused in the mind of Queen Yolande, and Marie 
took dutifully and silently the maternal reproofs. 
Then came the death of Charles VI., and Princess 
Marie was proclaimed Queen of France. With more 
than a sigh, — almost a broken heart, — she set herself 
to play her part as a virtuous woman and as a loyal 
spouse. Dunois did not renounce his devotion to the 
Queen, and she never forgot the love she had borne 
him — a Prince the very antithesis of her husband, 
remarkable for personal beauty and mental accom- 
plishment, just the sort of man all women love. Daily 
she poured out her soul before the altar of her private 
chapel for strength to be true and faithful, and victory 
was hers ; but it cost her dear. 

" Car en vertueuse souffrance, 
Au temps du commun desarroy, 
Elle a monstre plus de vaillance 
Que sage prince on fier roy." * 

This fascinating story of the loves of Count Dunois 
d'Orleans and Princess Marie d'Anjou was worked up 
by fanatics into a culpable liaison of the Queen. It 
grew in vile misrepresentation, and swelled in garbled 
facts until it became abhorrent in the ears of all 
decent-minded people. Some of Charles's legitimate 

* " In point of virtuous suffering, 
At times of deep alarms, 
She exhibited more daring 
Than wise prince or king in arms." 



210 rene D'ANJOU and his seven queens 

children were said to have been fathered by the 
Count. The Queen very wisely refrained from 
making replies to the evil stories, the only sensible 
way of dealing with them. " Exempt," as wrote 
Varillas, " not only from the faults of the Court, but 
still more from suspicion that she had any part 
therein, she had all the same to suffer from the 
poison of calumny." On the other hand, Marie 
suffered in patience the disdain and unfaithfulness of 
the King, and returned his evil with her good. Her 
entire life was a scene of sacrifice and an arena of 
benevolence. 

Marie, in her quiet, unobtrusive way, did very 
much for the correction of morals in Court and 
country. Due to her representation, Charles at Toul 
abolished the obscene Fete des Fous, which was 
observed through his dominions. It was a scandalous 
exhibition, an indecent orgy, shared in alike by laity 
and clergy. The latter chose a local Pope or Bishop, 
to whom for the time the actual Bishop of the 
diocese rendered up the attributes of his office. The 
mock prelate was enthroned in the cathedral, and 
then a wild scene of profanity was witnessed. Men 
and women dressed as buffoons, many exposing their 
nakedness without shame, joined in licentious dances 
and blasphemous songs, and gorged themselves with 
roast pork and other coarse viands and intoxicating 
beverages served upon the altars. In the holy 
censers were burnt common corks and bits of leather ; 
the holy-water stoups were used for nameless in- 
decencies ; and promiscuous prostitution made each 
sacred edifice a brothel and a Gehenna. 

Early in the year 1457 Ambassadors from Duke 
Ladislaus of Austria came to France to ask from 



MARIE D'ANJOU 211 

Charles VII. the hand of his youngest daughter, 
Madeleine, a girl of fourteen, and dowered with 
beauty if not with wealth. Passing through Lorraine 
and Bar, King Rene greeted them, entertained them 
handsomely, and accompanied them to Tours. The 
King and Queen of France were at the castle with 
their three daughters, — Jeanne ; Yolande, the wife of 
Amadeo IX., Duke of Savoy ; and Madeleine, — and 
a numerous and distinguished suite. In the Grand 
Salle twelve long tables were placed, each seating 
seven guests. At the first were the two Kings and 
the Queens with the three Princesses and the Duke 
of Savoy. The Masters of Ceremonies were the 
Counts Gaston de Foix, Dunois, and de la Marche, 
with the Grand Seneschal of France. It was a 
typical entertainment — lavish, long, and laborious. 
The first course consisted of white hypocras and 
"rosties" — hors d'oeuvres (?) — served in crystal vessels. 
The second course offered grands pdtes de chapons 
a haute grasse, with boars' tongues, and accompanied 
by seven kinds of soup — all served on plates of silver. 
The third course presented all kinds of game-birds 
with venison and boars' heads served on silver dishes. 
The fourth course was des petites oyseaux on toast 
and spit, with prunes and salads, set forth on dishes 
of silver gilt. The fifth course consisted of tarts, 
orange trifles, candied lemons, and many sorts of 
sweetmeats, beautifully arranged on plates and stands 
of coloured jewelled glass. The sixth and last course 
was hypocras again, but red, served with oublies — 
perhaps macaroons and wafers. 

The wines which accompanied this regal menu, 
unhappily, are not mentioned by the chronicler, but 
the name of Tours in connection with delicacies of 



212 REN£ D 1 ANJOU and his seven queens 

the palate has always been a cachet of excellence ; 
its cuisine and its cellars are still unsurpassed in 
France. The banquet was accompanied by minstrelsy 
and masque. King Rene himself arranged the 
musical programme ; indeed, he brought with him 
some of his famous troubadours. After dinner the 
august company disposed themselves, some to the 
merry dance, some to the quiet tetes-a-t3te, and some 
to cards — then so fashionable and so much beloved 
by the King and Queen of France. A very famous 
pack was used, the Queens of the suit being Isabeau 
for " Hearts," Marie for " Clubs," Agnes Sorel for 
" Diamonds," and Jeanne d'Arc for " Spades," 
Kinged respectively by Charles VI., Louis III., 
Charles VII., and Rene ; and the Knaves, Xain- 
trailles, La Hire, Dunois, and Barbazan — a quaint 
conceit ! 

Upon the death of Louis III., his sister, Queen 
Marie, came in for a considerable fortune — renounced, 
be it said, by that most loving of all brothers, Rene, 
in her behalf. It was said that the new Duke 
assigned the whole of his revenues from Anjou to 
the use of his sister. He settled certain estates upon 
her which she very quickly and cleverly turned to 
good account. In person the Queen visited her new 
properties, dressed plainly in black and without 
ceremony, inquired into the condition of the labourers 
and the promise of the harvest, and then, calling to 
her assistance the well-known financier of Bourges, 
Jacques Cceur, opened out business relations with 
England. The vineyards of Anjou — at least, those 
bordering the Loire — were among the most fruitful 
in France. These the Ministers of the Queen 
exploited, and opened out a very profitable export 



MARIE D'ANJOU 213 

trade from the port of La Rochelle. The sweet 
white vinous brandies of Annis became established 
favourites of English palates. Anjou cheese, too, 
was excellent ; it still is made from milk of Anjou 
cows and goats. Creme de Blois was famous long 
before Roquefort, Cantal, or Brie, came into request, 
and with fresh butter was exported largely to 
Southampton, much to the profit of Queen Marie's 
exchequer. 

These homely touches introduce the student of 
" La Vie Privee des Francais " to a charming hobby 
of the good Queen Marie — her love of animals and 
birds. In the Comptes de Boy Rene' is a letter 
to the Agents of the Audit; it is dated July 16, 
145 8, and is as follows : 

" By Command of the Queen. 

" Well-beloved and Right Trusty, 

" We have noted that our brother the King 
of Sicily (Rene) has in his house at Rivetes, of which 
3^ou, Guillaume Bernart, have the superintendence, 
some cocks and hens of good strain, and that they 
are very fine, as we have seen. If you are well 
disposed, then, the messenger can bring us a cock 
and a hen, with a broody hen and her chicks. You 
will see that they are in good condition. Do not be 
at all fearful of displeasing our royal brother, for we 
shall make him both pleased and happy. 

" Dearly beloved, may Our Lord protect you. 

Written at our Castle of Chinon, XVI. day of July, 

1458. 

" Marie." 

King Rene* had a farm at Rivetes, and from an 
inventory dated November 12, 14 5 8, we learn that 



214 rene D'ANJOU and his seven queens 

he had — " 69 dies d'animaille (heads of stock), 
1 jument (mare), 1 poulain (colt), 42 che's de pour- 
ceaux (pigs), and much poultry." Rivetes, with its 
forest of chestnuts, was situated between the rivers 
Loire and Anthion, at no great distance from Angers. 
Rene had also wild beasts and birds — a vast 
menagerie at Rivetes and Reculee. His keeper of 
lions and leopards in 1476 was Benoist Bagonet, 
and of his eagles and peacocks, Vissuel Gosmes. He 
had also at Reculee a Court fool, Triboullet. They 
were all very pleasant fellows, and helped to amuse 
the King and Queen and their guests. 

King Charles VII. died at his favourite castle of 
Mehun-sur-Yevre, July 22, 1461. He had suffered 
for a considerable time from an incurable ulcer in his 
mouth, which denied him the pleasure and necessity 
of eating. In his last illness Marie was at Chinon ; 
he cried piteously for her to come to him : " Marie, 
ma Marie!" She hastened to Mehun, and was in 
time to hold his hand and moisten his heated brow, 
and quietly he died in her arms — the arms of the 
truest of wives and noblest of queens. Charles was 
buried in the royal vaults at St. Denis, and 
Louis XI., his son, reigned in his stead. Devoted 
to his mother, her widowhood was lightened by his 
affectionate regard. His father's death made no 
difference in her royal state ; the King placed his 
mother before his wife — Charlotte of Savoy. 

Queen Marie bore her consort twelve children ; 
six died in infancy. Her two sons were Louis and 
Charles ; her daughters, who survived, Catherine, 
Jeanne, Yolande, and Madeleine. She survived 
Charles but two short years. Enguerrand de 
Monstrelet speaks thus of her death, which occurred 



MARIE DANJOU 215 

near Poitiers, November 23, 1463: "There passed 
away from this world Marie of Anjou and France. 
. . . She bore all through her life the character of a 
good and devout woman, ever generous and patient." 
Her death was not unexpected, for through trouble, 
sorrow, and fasting, her frame had become emaciated 
and her pulse beat slow ; she died actually from 
prostration. Her end was very peaceful in the 
silent cloisters of the Abbey of Chastilliers in Poitou. 
She had but just returned from a pilgrimage to 
the Gallician shrine of Santiago da Compostella. 
Her body was embalmed and translated in solemn 
guise to St. Denis, and laid beside that of her 
husband. Her devotion to him had not ceased at 
his death, for she had endowed twelve altars in the 
chief cities of France proper for the offering of 
Masses for the repose of his soul. Every month she 
made the practice of visiting the royal tomb at St. 
Denis to hear Mass and pray for him. At Bourges, 
of sad and chastened memory, the widowed Queen 
founded in honour of her consort three considerable 
benevolent institutions — a hospital for the sick poor, 
a refuge for poor pilgrims, and an orphanage for 
illegitimate children. 

Queen Marie's transparent faithfulness and absolute 
unselfishness is outlined in a famous saying of hers 
with respect to her relations with King Charles : 
" He is my lord and master ; he has entire power 
over all my actions, and I have none over his." Her 
whole-hearted devotion and her heroic courage have 
raised Marie d' Anjou far above the ordinary level of 
her sex, and have elevated her to the very highest 
throne among the Queens of France. 



CHAPTER VII 

GIOVANNA II. DA NAPOLI " SI COMME A REGINA 

GIOVANNA !" 

I. 

" Like Queen Giovanna " was, alas ! a common saying 
in the Two Sicilies what time Giovanna II. was Queen 
of Naples. A term of immeasurable reprobation, it 
implied the stripping of the woman of every shred of 
moral character, the baring of the Queen of every 
claim to honour. If Isabeau of Bavaria was the 
worst Queen-consort, then Giovanna II. was the 
worst Queen-regnant, perhaps, the world has ever 
seen. Her story needs telling truthfully with care. 

Giovanna II., Queen of Naples, was the only sur- 
viving daughter of Charles III., " Carlo della 
Pace" King of Naples and Count of Provence. Her 
mother was Margaret, daughter of her great-uncle 
Charles, Duke of Durazzo ; hence her parents were 
cousins, and were both in the direct line of succession 
from Charles I., Count of Anjou, the fourth son of 
King Louis IX., — St. Louis of France, — who had 
married Beatrix, Countess of Provence in her own 
right. Giovanna had seven brothers and sisters, all 
of whom died in infancy except Ladislaus, born in 
1376 ; she was his senior by five years, having first 

seen the light of day on April 27, 1371. 

216 




GIOVANNA II. DA NAPOLI AS THE VIRGIN MARY 

From a Painting by Antonio Solario (" Lo'Zingaro "). [Circa 1420.) 
National Museum, Naples 



To face page 21 & 



GIOVANNA II. DA NAPOLI 217 

The Queen's father's predecessor as occupant of 
the throne of Naples had been his second cousin, 
Giovanna I., the eldest surviving grandchild of King 
Robert, " Roberto il Buono e Saggio." She died 
childless in 1382, although twice married, first to 
Andrew, King of Hungary, and secondly to Lodovico, 
Prince of Taranto. By her will she purposely passed 
over the Princes of the Durazzo family, and named as 
her successor Louis II. d'Anjou, King of Sicily and 
Jerusalem and Count of Provence. The Queen's 
first marriage was celebrated September 24, 1333, 
when she was only seven years old, her boy-husband 
being fifteen. The Pope created Prince Andrew 
King of Naples six years later, upon his succession to 
the throne of Hungary. Without the slightest com- 
punction, Charles, son of Lodovico, Count of Gravina, 
seized his cousin's empty throne, and maintained him- 
self thereupon for five years, his little daughter Gio- 
vanna being just ten years of age. The death of 
Queen Giovanna I. was due to the instigation of 
Charles. He entered Naples at the head of a strong 
force of cavalry, seized the palace, and took the 
Queen prisoner. She was conducted to the Castle of 
Muro, overlooking the road from Naples to Melfi, 
and there, with her lover, Otto of Brunswick, suffo- 
cated under a feather bed by two Hungarian soldiers. 
This outrage was committed in revenge for the death 
of King Andrew, which was ordered by Giovanna I., 
his consort. 

Charles III., King of Naples, died in 1386, leaving 
to his son Ladislaus the royal succession, with his 
widow, Queen Margaret, as Regent. They with the 
Princess Giovanna, sixteen years of age, were fugitives 
from castle to castle, pursued by the troops of Louis 



218 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

d'Anjou. Nevertheless, Margaret was an astute 
mother, for when Ladislaus was eighteen years old 
she espoused him to Constance, daughter of the Count 
of Clermont in Sicily, a very wealthy heiress. What 
matrimonial projects were hatched or addled on behalf 
of Princess Giovanna during her father's lifetime we 
know not, but almost the first matter taken in hand 
by King Ladislaus was an advantageous marriage for 
his sister. This was a very complicated business. 
First of all, neither he nor she cared very much for 
matrimony ; he was a libertine, and she shared his 
freedom and his depravity. Next, each suitor for the 
hand of Giovanna retired disgusted by the loose 
morals of the Neapolitan Court and by the avarice of 
the King and his sister. However, at length a match 
was arranged between the Princess and Prince 
William, son of Leopold III., Duke of Austria. The 
actual nuptials, however, were postponed for one 
reason or another until 1403, when Giovanna had 
reached the considerable age of thirty-two. The 
princely couple went off to Austria, where they 
remained more or less unhappy until 1406, when the 
Prince died suddenly and suspiciously, many said by 
the hand or direction of his ill-conditioned wife. 

The widow returned at once to Naples to fill the 
place of honour vacated by her brother's wife, his 
second consort, Maria di Lusignan. Queen Constance 
he had divorced in 1391, and married the daughter 
of the King of Cyprus the same year. The ostensible 
reason for rejecting Constance was the failure of her 
father to pay her dowry. She was a lovely girl and 
virtuous, — a rare quality at that time, — and became 
the idol of the Court. Queen Maria had scarcely 
been seated on the throne, when she also fell from her 



GIOVANNA II. DA NAPOLI 219 

high station. Ladislaus said she was delicate and in 
consumption, and no wife for him. One day, when 
she and the King were assisting at Mass in the 
cathedral, she heard with the utmost astonishment 
and dismay the Archbishop read a Bull of Pope 
Boniface IX. annulling her marriage with Ladislaus. 
At the conclusion of the citation the prelate advanced 
to the Queen's throne and demanded her wedding- 
ring. Too stupefied to resist, the pledge of her 
married state was torn from her finger, and she was 
carried away to a remote convent under the care of 
two aged nuns. Three years after this outrage the 
King relented of his cruelty, and married her to one 
Andrea di Capua, one of his favourites. He took a 
third wife in 1406, Marie d'Enghien, the widow of 
Baimondo d'Orsini, some six months after the return 
of his sister from Austria. She is said to have sur- 
vived Ladislaus. Some letters of hers are preserved 
at Conversano, near Bari, in the Benedictine convent. 

The advance of Louis d'Anjou upon the capital 
roused Ladislaus to action, and he hastily gathered 
together an undisciplined army, and set forth to 
withstand his rival to the throne. A decisive battle 
was fought at Bocca Secca, May 19, 1411, wherein 
Ladislaus's troops were routed, but Louis failed to 
follow up his advantage, and Ladislaus retained his 
throne and continued his debauches. 

Early in 1412 Queen Margaret, mother of the 
King and of Giovanna, died somewhat suddenly. 
She and her entourage had taken refuge from a 
visitation of plague, which spared neither prince nor 
peasant, at her villa at Acquamela, six miles from 
Salerno. She was buried privately in the Cathedral 
of Salerno, in the crypt over against the marble 



220 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

sarcophagus which contained the ashes of St. 
Matthew. Whatever influence she may have exerted 
during the youth of her son and daughter for their 
good was speedily dissipated, and as soon as Ladislaus 
had obtained the crown he took steps to circum- 
scribe the liberty of his mother. She appealed to 
her daughter Giovanna for sympathy, but found 
none, and the poor old Queen, who had survived her 
consort, Charles, for six -and -twenty years, was 
consigned to the Convent of the Annunciation, " so 
as to be out of the way of mischief," as her daughter 
phrased it. The natural role of mother was entirely 
out of place in a palace or at a Court ruled by a 
libertine and a prostitute. 

Ladislaus died sadly and alone. His unnatural 
sister refused to be with him, and all his butterfly 
courtesans gave to themselves wing when sickness 
and death entered the royal palace. He died 
August 6, 1414, leaving no lawful offspring by his 
three wives, but a numerous family of natural children. 
No Salic Law governed the succession to the throne 
in the kingdom of Naples, consequently Giovanna 
became Queen. 

The widowed Queen Giovanna had not married 
again, although she counted lovers by the score ; 
but within a few months of her accession she took 
steps to ally herself with a Prince who should be 
the handsomest and wittiest of the time. This 
determination of Giovanna was noised abroad all over 
the capitals and Courts of Europe, and forthwith a 
troop of eligible suitors passed through the ports 
of Marseilles and Genoa, each bent on taking the 
ribald Queen at her word. The romance reads like 
a fairy tale, for each princeling and prince was put 



GIOVANNA II. DA NAPOLI 221 

through his paces to show his qualifications in person 
and in purse ; for, desperately wicked as she was, the 
Queen had a commercial sense, and her exchequer 
stood sorely in need of replenishment. Taken for all 
in all, Juan d'Arragona, son of King Ferdinand, was 
the champion of physical beauty, knightly courtesy, 
and financial competence ; but he was no more than 
a precocious lad of seventeen, whilst the Queen was 
forty-five. A matrimonial union was ruled to be 
impossible, and the pride of Aragon would not suffer 
a scion of her royal house to become the plaything 
of a lewd Queen. 

Giovanna very unwillingly transferred her affec- 
tions to an older suitor, — the champion, if we may 
so write, of the heavy weights, — Jacques de Bourbon, 
Comte de la Marche, of the Royal House of France, 
and their nuptials were celebrated in the Cathedral 
of Naples on August 10, 1415. He very soon 
discovered that, strong man as he was, he had a 
wily woman to contend with. He began to assert 
his marital rights, and required Giovanna to accord 
him equal honours with herself; at the same time he 
utterly failed in the reformation of the conduct of 
his wife. She served herself upon him as she willed, 
but she mostly willed to serve him not at all, and 
to transfer her favours, as before their marriage, 
indiscriminately to whilom paramours. Like a lion 
wounded in his den, Roy Jacques, — for so he called 
himself, — struck out at his supplanters, and, with his 
past-master knowledge of the rapier and its uses, he 
pricked to death not one but many lovers of the 
Queen. The Neapolitans were man for man with 
Giovanna, and indignant with her consort. Strange 
to say, perhaps, for us who read the story of the 



222 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

time, evil royal communications had wholly corrupted 
the morals and the manners of all classes in the 
realm. 

Incited by toadies and sycophants, Giovanna at 
last took the upper hand against her spouse, and on 
September 13, 1416, — little more than a year after 
their marriage, — she ordered his imprisonment in 
the Castella dell' Ovo, a fortress of such strength that 
Froissart said : " None but the devil can take it !" 
Thence, however, he escaped, but with a price upon 
his head, — fixed by his inconstant mistress, — and 
took up his residence at Besancjon, with the white 
cord of St. Francis d'Assisi round his loins. There 
he died, having renounced the world, the flesh, and 
the devil, a wiser and a disillusioned man, in 1436. 

Giovanna, released from the bonds of matrimony, 
greatly to her relief, gave herself unreservedly into 
the arms of every man dare-devil enough to risk the 
consequences. Of these, perhaps the first whose 
name and maldoings chroniclers have preserved was 
Pandolfo Alopo, a base-born athlete, a very hand- 
some follow, and a seductive guitarist to boot. He 
responded to his royal mistress's amours, and she 
appointed him Seneschal of the kingdom, with 
authority to use her signet-ring. Very soon, mentally 
and morally undisciplined as he was, he exceeded the 
length of Giovanna's tether, by exciting her jealousy 
with respect to her Maids of Honour. Short was his 
shrift. Seized, bound, and tortured with nameless 
indignity and cruelty, his mutilated body was cast 
into the sea off the fair island of Nisida, where the 
vicious vixen held orgies equal in atrocity and 
bestiality to those of Tiberius in Capri. 

Sforza da Colignola stepped gaily in the bloody 



GIOVANNA II. DA NAPOLI 

footmarks of Alopo. He was the chief of the 
Queen's pages, and had been reared under her eye 
and at her will ; he had, moreover, a fell influence 
over his mistress, as witness time out of mind, ever 
since his teens, of her enormities. He, indeed, 
gained the upper hand of Giovanna, and, being an 
adept in martial exercises, held his own against all 
comers. For a time he left the intimate service of 
the Queen, and became a soldier of fortune, winning 
laurels and prizes all along his way. Secretly he 
sympathized with the claims of the House of Anjou, 
judging shrewdly enough that under the white lilies 
of Louis he would have a better hold upon his 
position at the Court of Naples than he would under 
the red bars of Alfonso of Aragon. 

Giovanna felt the thraldom of Sforza's strength of 
character and his knowledge of her past, and because 
no one seemed willing to take her at her word, and 
rid her of his presence, she turned herself about and 
fixed her confidence on Sergianni Caracciolo. Upon 
him she showered riches and honours, but in return 
he made himself her master. 

The Queen's choice of favourites was not, however, 
confined to men of merit or of high degree. Every 
good-looking youth or well-favoured man upon whom 
her eyes chanced to rest was enrolled in her house- 
hold. She frequented athletic meetings incognita to 
view the personal qualifications of vigorous youths, 
and spent her evenings in surreptitious visits to her 
stables and her kennels. The men of her choice 
were offered no alternative, but when the guilty 
intercourse was consummated the lucky-luckless 
companion of her couch was expected to commit 

suicide or for ever leave his home on pain of 

15 



224 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

imprisonment and torture if he tarried four-and- 
twenty hours. 

Perhaps no figure of a man fascinated Queen 
Giovanna more completely than did the handsome 
person of Bartolommeo Collcone of Bergamo. His 
family had become impoverished by the bitter feuds of 
the Guelphs and Ghibellines, so at eighteen the young 
lad bid his parents farewell and started off to win his 
way in military adventures. He travelled south to 
Naples, and at twenty was as lusty and as strong 
as any man he met. Of a strict habit of body, he 
performed feats none others dared. Giovanna sent 
for the good-looking stranger, and pittied him against 
the ablest youths of Naples. In leaping, running, 
and casting of heavy weights, no one could snrpass 
him. Instantly the Queen fell in love with him, and 
appointed him her esquire, with ready access to her 
boudoir, where she denied him nothing. His final 
reward was the cloister of St. Francis d'Assisi, 
which became his prison, and his mouth was sealed. 
How he escaped torture no one has recorded. 

It would be long, and certainly distasteful, to give 
a full list of all those who shared the vampire caresses 
of the peccant Queen ; but brief is her story of how 
Giovanna destroyed the fair fame of her house and 
the honour of her country. Of her it was written : 
" Ultima Durazzajiet destructio regnum " (" The last 
Durazzo shall destroy the kingdom "). 



II. 

Whilst Giovanna was thus prostituting herself and 
her kingdom, and Alfonso of Aragon was biding his 
time, a movement was on foot in Anjou and Provence, 



GIOVANNA II. DA NAPOLI 225 

under the strong hand of Queen Yolande, to win back 
the rights her husband had abandoned to the succes- 
sion of the Neapolitan crown. Her eldest son, — a 
boy not yet out of school, — should place that crown 
once more upon the head of an Angevine Sovereign 
or perish in the attempt. Men and arms and allies 
were all requisitioned, and elaborate preparations were 
made at Marseilles and Genoa for the embarkation of 
the " army of Naples." 

The expedition of Louis III. to Naples was hurried 
forward in consequence of the breach between Queen 
Giovanna and the nobles of Naples. Her disregard 
of their allegiance, and her appointment to all the 
more important posts under the Crown of men of 
obscure origin who had commended themselves to her 
by their physical charms and coarse obscenities, caused 
a disruption in the political economy of the kingdom. 
The Queen was deaf to the expostulations of her 
Barons, and ordered them severally to their estates, 
where, fuming with indignation, they armed their 
retainers and stood ready for any emergency. The 
arrogance of King Alfonso drove many would-be 
adherents into the camp of his Angevine rival, and 
an influential deputation of aggrieved dignitaries made 
its way to Marseilles to tender to Yolande, the Queen 
of Sicily and the mother of Anjou, their homage, and 
to assure her of their cordial support for the youthful 
King if only she would permit him to show himself at 
the head of an overawing force before the capital. 

There is a romantic story concerning King Louis's 
journey to Naples told by Jehan Charantais. esquire 
to the King, in a letter to Queen Yolande. The 
fleet of Genoese and Provencal galleons was driven by 
adverse winds, it is related, and sought refuge under 



226 rene DANJOU and his seven queens 

the high cliffs of Sicily. Whilst weather-bound, the 
young Prince landed with a company of knights in 
search of adventures. As they came ashore a number 
of girls greeted them with showers of roses, and tossed 
them handfuls of kisses. One, more daring than the 
rest, ran up to the youthful Sovereign, wholly ignorant 
of his identity, and gave him a nosegay of crimson 
blooms tied with a lovers' knot of blue ribbon. 
Accepting the good-omened offering, Louis loosened 
his surcoat to insert the fragrant spray, when his 
kingly medallion fell out at the foot of the damsel. 
She at once picked it up and ran away, laughing 
provokingly. The Prince followed her, caught her, 
recovered his badge of sovereignty, and gave his 
captive in exchange a sounding kiss. But Leonora, — ■ 
such was her name, — had discovered who he was. 

That same day a missive was brought aboard the 
flagship by a Sicilian fisherman. It was in Leonora's 
handwriting, and bore her signature. She told him 
she was about to be sent to Naples by her parents as 
a Maid of Honour to the Queen. She had very 
much disliked the idea, and had refused to go, because 
Giovanna was the daughter of a usurper, as was 
reported, and because she bore so evil a character. 
" Now," she added, " that I have seen and spoken to 
my King, and have received his embraces, I am ready 
to go at all hazards and do my utmost in his cause." 

Louis dillydallied with his Sicilian mermaid, and 
their loves continued for wellnigh a fortnight before 
his fleet was ready to put to sea again. Fair Leonora, 
too, took her departure, saying, as she bid adieu to 
her lover : " We shall meet, dear Prince, again in the 
Queen's boudoir." 

Louis III., a well-grown lad of seventeen, and as 




KING RENE RECEIVING THE HOMAGE OF A VASSAL, 1 469 
From a Miniature, MS. Fifteenth Century. National Library, Paris 



To face page 220 



GIOVANNA II. DA NAPOLI 227 

manly as he was fit mentally, arrived off the city of 
Naples on August 15, 1420, to maintain his right to 
the throne more bravely and more successfully than 
either his father or his grandfather had done. He 
had just fallen in with the fleet of the King of 
Aragon, but in defeating his hereditary enemy his 
own flotilla was so greatly worsted that he was unable 
to take the city by storm. He landed, however, and 
betook himself to Aversa to present his homage to 
Queen Giovanna. Shocked by her lustful overtures, 
he departed precipitately to Rome, and there bided 
his time. The Queen's failure to seduce the young 
Sovereign threw her once more into the arms of 
King Alfonso, whom she formally proclaimed her heir 
on September 24 the same year. Three years 
passed whilst the adherents of the House of Anjou 
suffered forfeiture of goods, liberty of person, and 
many cruel punishments and tortures. 

Alfonso, a natural son of King Ferdinand the Just, 
King of Aragon and Sicily, was forty years of age, 
remarkably handsome, talented and capable, ambitious, 
but generous and devoted to the fair sex. He was, 
however, entirely unresponsive to the amorous ap- 
proaches of the Queen. His rejection, his scorn, and 
his independence of action, roused in Giovanna keen 
feelings of resentment. She had named him heir to 
Naples ; she could just as easily disinherit and discard 
him. On June 24, 1423, — good St. John the 
Baptist's Day, a festival of major obligation in the 
Church, — the Queen caused proclamation to be made 
at Mass and in the markets that, " owing to the 
incompetence and pretensions of the King of Aragon, 
he is thereby disinherited, and is no longer to be 
recognized as successor to the throne of Naples." A 



228 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

plot, indeed, or more correctly plots, were revealed 
to Giovanna whereby Alfonso was implicated in a 
conspiracy to seize the Queen's person, imprison her, 
and ultimately to poison her. On May 22 of the 
same year he had taken the bold step of arresting 
Gianni Caracciolo, the Queen's chief favourite. This 
roused Giovanna to action. She ordered Caracciolo's 
immediate release, and bade Alfonso quit Naples at 
once, or remain at his peril. Greatly to her surprise 
and relief, he took his departure, and left the field 
open to his youthful rival. 

The Queen's next step was to send to Rome, and 
invite her " beloved cousin," as she called Louis, to 
return to her assistance in driving the Aragonese out 
of Naples, and to accept the succession to her throne. 
She bade him to have no fear of misunderstandings 
of the past, but to regard herself as nothing more 
than a well-intentioned relative. 

Louis, now grown to manhood, with ripened 
experience of warlike tactics and political strife, and, 
be it said, of women and their ways, entered Naples 
in state on April 10, 1424. His arrival in Southern 
Italy cheered the desponding spirits of the Angevine 
party and roused their zeal. Adherents flocked to 
the banner he set up, and men and arms were ready 
at his beck and call. A very important personage 
allied himself with the young King - adventurer — 
none other than Sforza, the famous condottiere. 
He gathered around him a considerable number of 
distinguished malcontents and disappointed favourites 
of the Queen, who in no way concealed their inten- 
tion of revenging the insults she had heaped upon 
them, as soon as they gained a promising opportunity. 
News of this determination very soon reached 



GIOVANNA II. DA NAPOLI 229 

Giovanna's ears, and she shut herself up in her 
palace with her maidens and her toadies, and declined 
to receive King Louis or his envoys. At the same 
time she summoned to her presence Braccio Forte- 
braccio di Mantova, another *of her renowned con- 
dottieri, and Constable of Sicily, the avowed rival and 
enemy of Sforza, and suffering under a decree of 
excommunication of Pope Martin V. 

Leonora, immediately in attendance on the Queen, 
managed very skilfully to convey intelligence of all 
that passed in Giovanna's secret councils to her royal 
lover. She told him that, in spite of her recent 
proclamation, the Queen had sent her favourite 
Court Seneschal, Gianni Caracciolo, to the King of 
Aragon to implore him to come and rescue her, and 
put the coalition to flight. She asked Alfonso to 
accept the title and estates of Duke of Calabria, as 
appertaining to the heir-presumptive to the Neapolitan 
throne. This daring courtier pressed his attentions 
upon the Queen, demanding not only a share of her 
bed, but a share of her throne. Leonora told Louis 
all the ins and outs of this intrigue, and warned him 
to be on the alert ; for should Caracciolo's presump- 
tion become known in Naples, there would be a 
general revolution. Sforza, on his side, was not 
prepared to allow his rival Hercules an unquestioned 
victory at Court. He demanded admission to the 
palace, and an interview with the Queen, before 
whom he challenged Caracciolo to mortal combat. 

Giovanna was delighted that such redoubtable 
champions should worst each other on her account. 
Her vanity was nattered — and that is a happy condi- 
tion for a scheming woman. Undoubtedly she most 
favoured Caracciolo, but Sforza's fine physique 



&JG REN^ DANJOU and his seven queens 

appealed to her irresistibly, and she fanned his 
passion. If Caracciolo was for the moment master 
of her heart, Sforza was master of her future, and 
she was happy. One day she invited the rivals to 
join her in the chase, and she rode between them. 
She cared little for hunting save as an incentive to 
amorous relations. Tiring soon of the exercise, 
she expressed a wish to dismount and saunter in 
the forest glades, but her mood lead to an extra- 
ordinary contest. Caracciolo threw himself at once 
off his mount, and gave the Queen his hand to rid 
her of her pommel. Sforza, seeing his advantage, 
pressed his horse against the Queen's and seized her 
other hand. Each hero pulled his hardest, until 
Giovanna was compelled to cry aloud for pain ! 
Then, slipping quietly down, she ordered Sforza to 
release her. This token of non-preference excited the 
condottieres passion. " If Caracciolo," he hissed 
out, " had not been so clumsy, your Majesty would 
not have been so greatly disarranged !" 

" It is not you," replied the Queen, " that should 
dare to regulate my conduct, or, for the matter of 
that, your rival's. Hold your tongue and leave me ; 
your presence is not grateful just now !" 

" As you will, madam," said Sforza fiercely. 
" Yes, I will leave you with the favourite of your 
heart, but you ought to know that you cannot treat 
thus a man like me !" Then he turned to Caracciolo, 
and exclaimed in a tone of scornful disdain : " As 
for you, I advise you to use all your wits and all 
your resources, for you will stand in need of them !" 

Giovanna was on that day absolutely overcome 
by her physical passions. She cared for nothing, 
and the last sight the enraged Sforza had of her was 



GIOVANNA II. DA NAPOLI 231 

locked in her lover's arms and reclining on a mossy- 
bed, lost to the world around. The erring Queen 
speedily came to her senses with respect to the posi- 
tion Sfoza had taken up ; and when she learnt that 
he had thrown in his lot for better or for worse with 
Louis III., under a pretext, she despatched Caracciolo 
to Rome to claim the Papal reversal of his excom- 
munication, and to assure the Pope of her filial 
devotion to the Holy See. Before he departed, 
Giovanna required him to deliver up his sword as 
Seneschal of the kingdom, which she promptly offered 
as a bribe to Sforza. 

Meanwhile Leonora had not been idle. She had 
spoken to the Queen often and passionately about 
the comeliness and the gallantry of her hero, con- 
trasting his buoyant physical excellences with the 
blaze proportions of Alfonso, — not knowing that he 
had rejected Giovanna's lustful overtures, — until 
she expressed herself desirous of confirming his 
appointment as her heir. Leonora wrote thus to 
King Louis : " Come not yet to the palace ; but 
arm your fleet, and recruit what troops you can. 
Sforza is loyal, but Caracciolo is your enemy, and he 
is powerful. Besides him you have to reckon with 
Braccio and with King Alfonso. You have need 
of prudence and daring." 

The position of affairs, so far as the Queen was 
personally concerned, was perilous in the extreme. 
On one hand, the King of Aragon did not hide his 
intention of capturing her, and consigning her and 
her maidens and men to a castle in Catalonia, and 
then he would be absolute master of the kingdom of 
Naples. On the other hand, Louis, aided by Sforza, 
whom she had so grievously outraged, was determined 



232 REN£ D^NJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

to win back his ancestral inheritance, Queen or no 
Queen, but he in no way threatened her life or 
liberty. The Queen fled with her Court to the 
Castle of Capua, and there established herself. Sforza 
followed her, and, whilst avowedly protecting his 
Queen, made her his prisoner, and then, with the 
assistance of the fleet of King Louis, caused Alfonso, 
who with Braccio was investing the city of Naples, 
to seek refuge in Castel Nuovo, whence he set sail to 
Aragon for reinforcements and supplies. 

Leonora, — still with the Queen and still devoted 
to the cause of King Louis, — wrote to him again, 
bidding him adventure himself to Aversa, whither 
Giovanna retired after the departure of King Alfonso. 
There Louis found her, and, in spite of advancing 
years and the disordered life she had led, noted her 
good looks, her grace of manner and of speech, and her 
general attractiveness. " Her eyes," wrote Leonora, 
" flashed wonderfully, and her cheeks reddened pas- 
sionately directly she beheld again her good-looking 
young cousin." Giovanna greeted him at the top of 
the grand staircase of the palace, and addressed him 
in gushing terms : " The brave deeds you have 
accomplished, gallant Prince," she said, " have added 
greatly to your renown. Enter, victorious King, my 
peaceful abode, take a well-merited repose, and receive 
from me, your devoted admirer, the homage of a 
thankful Princess, who is greatly charmed at behold- 
ing you in full possession of your lawful estate." 
Extending her hand, she led the young King to the 
apartments which had been prepared for him. 

Louis, bowing profoundly, deprecated the services 
which had gained such honours as the Queen had 
bestowed upon him. " I have achieved success in 



GIOVANNA II. DA NAPOLI 

your name, Madam, and for your pleasure," he replied. 
They supped together, and then, bidding all the 
company and the servants to withdraw, she conversed 
with her visitor upon every subject that came upper- 
most in her mind, but eventually laid herself open 
to receive the supreme pleasure she had in contem- 
plation. Louis was inflexible, and all her tenderness 
and affection found no response. At last she said : 
" I do not know what more I can do. You, Sire, 
accept gladly the rights your arms have won, but 
what is more precious still you refuse — these arms 
of mine which are ready to do your will and 
pleasure." 

Giovanna then lowered her gaze and sat mute, 
awaiting Louis's reply with palpitating breast. She 
might very well have hummed the kissing song of 
Ronsard : 

" On soit d'un baiser sec, ou d'un baiser humide, 
D'un baiser court, ou d'un baiser qui guide 
L'dme dessuz la bouche, et laisse tre'sjMSser 
Le baiseur." * 

" No, madam," at last spoke the young Prince, 
greatly embarrassed by the Queen's words and 
looks, " it shall never be said that I seek the means 
for impairing your royal prerogative ; you shall retain 
that, I pray, in its entirety so long as Providence 
sees good to preserve you to your people." Then he 
politely withdrew from the chamber and sought his 
own lodging. Again on the morrow the King and 
Queen dined together privately. Giovanna was 
dressed superbly in royal robes and wore priceless 

* " Maybe the kiss is cold, maybe it's warm ; 
A kiss and off, or a kiss that clings, 
And guides the ardent lover 'neath the lips 
Till he finds no way to escape." 



234 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

jewels, but her manner was strangely marked by 
languor and vexation. Their conversation was forced 
and restrained in turn. After the repast they 
adjourned together to the lovely gardens of the 
palace, which were brilliantly illuminated and filled 
with a numerous and festive company. The best 
musicians of the capital and the most excellent 
jongleurs of foreign and native fame forgathered 
to do honour to the royal guest. Dances and flirta- 
tions were the order of the evening, and among the 
Queen's maidens was the lovely girl from Sicily, 
Leonora. Louis saw her immediately, and it was 
not very long before they were tete-a-tSte in a grotto 
hidden from public gaze. 

The royal romance reached a climax when Louis 
avowed himself the devoted admirer and lover of the 
girl. He even proposed a clandestine marriage, but 
Leonora begged him with tears not to press his suit. 
She revealed to him the real character of her mistress, 
and warned him that if Giovanna became conversant 
with the liaison, then she herself would be done 
to death, and he, Louis, would probably be assas- 
sinated. " You may," she said, " refuse to marry 
the Queen, but she will never pardon you if you 
marry anybody else." 

Again, the third day of Louis's visit to Aversa, 
the Queen arranged meals and meetings alone with 
the Prince, whose morals and whose manhood she 
was striving so consumedly to seduce. The Queen's 
eyes had in them not alone the lure of lust, but the 
flash of passion and the flame of resentment. Louis 
again excused himself her presence, and, making his 
way to his tryst with Leonora, heard as he approached 
the grotto the high-toned voice of Giovanna beat- 



GIOVANNA II. DA NAPOLI 285 

ing down the frightened protests of his innamorata 
— they were together in the grotto ! The Prince 
revealed himself, only to meet the scornful invectives 
of the jealous Queen. She demanded to know the 
nature of Louis's relations with her serving-maid, 
and when she had heard the story she turned upon 
Leonora like a tiger. Louis stepped before the 
terrified girl, and bade Giovanna abate her fury and 
not lay hands upon a woman whom he loved. 
" Leonora has done more than you, madam," he ex- 
claimed, " to mount me on the throne of Naples, 
and you shall not cause me to descend there- 
from !" 

The Queen, at last realizing the manner of man 
with whom she had to deal, was intimidated by his 
boldness, and presently she left the grotto. Leonora 
still refused Louis's proposition, and before the day 
dawned she had taken her flight from A versa, and 
was well on her way to Rome, to claim sanctuary. 
She wrote a farewell letter to her royal lover, which 
a faithful dependent of her father safely conveyed 
to Naples. King Louis offered the old man every 
possible inducement to reveal the hiding-place of his 
young mistress, but he never broke the seal of secrecy 
which Leonora placed upon him, and Louis and 
Leonora never met again. 

Louis managed to evade the embraces and the 
advances of the Queen. He had been espoused to 
the Princess Margaret of Savoy, and although he 
used the liberty of a vigorous and a level-headed 
young manhood under the silver-feathered aegis of 
Prince Cupid, he was not forgetful of his troth. 
Having broken the back of the opposition of Alfonso 
of Aragon, and being confident of the support of 



236 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

Genoa and Milan, he lived in comparative comfort 
and peace ; but he withdrew into Calabria, where he 
was for a time, at all events, safe from the intrigues 
of G-iovanna. During this interval the young King 
made repeated visits both to Angers and Chambery, 
to greet his devoted mother, revive the sweet 
memories of his boyhood, and to cultivate the love 
of his fiancee Margaret, now growing rapidly to 
womanhood. 

The whole of France was once again in a ferment. 
The English, driving all before them, captured almost 
all the possessions of the Crown. Charles VII. was 
a fugitive, and his consort Marie, Louis's beloved 
sister, broken-hearted. Rene, his younger brother, 
was fighting for his own in Bar and Lorraine. With 
the chivalry and self-sacrifice which distinguished all 
the children of Louis II. and Yolande, he placed his 
sword at the disposal of his brother-in-law, and fell 
into line with the defenders of his native soil. None 
of the French King's allies held themselves more 
stoutly, nor were anything like so dependable, as was 
the young King of Sicily and Naples. His royal 
person and his coroneted helmet were ever foremost 
in the battle ; his bravery was inspiring. When 
matters seemed to be hopeless and the flame of 
France's honour appeared to be extinguished, the 
miraculous mission of the Maid of Domremy cheered 
the hearts of all true patriots. She chose Rene as her 
preux chevalier, and her place was at the head of the 
troops under his orders. Louis III. had another 
post of danger to fill ; he and his command were 
told off to keep watchful eyes upon the movements of 
the Duke of Burgundy. By his excellent strategy 
he kept the English apart from their allies, and 



ffi Hi »«»nf^=;-~-n ST8 rr 3 e S$ ' ) 




KING LADISLAUS AND QUEEN GIOVANNA II. 

From a Monument by A. Ciccione. Church of San Giovanni 
a Carbonara, Naples 



To face p'ige 23(> 



GIOVANNA II. DA NAPOLI 237 

rendered the co-operation of the Burgundians im- 
possible. 

The relief of Orleans was followed by the amalga- 
mation of the two French armies, led so brilliantly 
by the Angevine royal brothers, and the victorious 
hosts of France swept Charles and his Court along 
with them triumphantly to his Sacre at Reims. 
Released from his duties as coadjutor to the King 
of France, Louis returned south again, and at Geneva 
he and Margherita di Savoia were united in the 
bonds of matrimony. The royal couple left imme- 
diately for Marseilles, and sailed away to Naples, 
accompanied by a strong squadron of war-galleys of 
Venice and Genoa ; for the Venetians, recognizing the 
courage and the ability of the young King, and 
desirous of gaining some of the commercial profits 
of Neapolitan trade, joined their forces to the banner 
of the Angevine King of Naples. 

Once more in his capital he discovered Queen 
Giovanna wholly under the influence of Gianni 
Caracciolo, who had assumed regal attributes, and 
was personally carrying on an intrigue to supplant 
his authority. Louis immediately sent for the 
usurper, asked him about his pretensions, and warned 
him that if the Queen, as he said, had named him 
her Lieutenant-General, he (Louis) was his undoubted 
Sovereign. Caracciolo took the King's assumption 
of his kingly rights quite nonchalantly, and replied 
insolently that as long as Giovanna lived he was the 
mouthpiece of her Government. 

The favourite of the Queen was not a persona 
grata at her Court. His arrogance and presumption 
raised up enemies on every side ; in particular, the 
old nobility looked askance upon a courtier of his low 



238 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

origin. Sergianni was by name a Caracciolo, by birth 
the son of a common woman — so it was said. The 
Queen's Mistress of the Robes was Covella RufFo, 
Duchess of Sessa, — her husband was a pretender to 
the crown, — and she voiced the palace discontent. 
She boldly demanded of Giovanna the immediate 
disgrace of her Seneschal, and proclaimed the Court 
preference for King Louis and his fascinating consort 
Margherita. The Queen indignantly stood by 
Caracciolo, and forbade the Duchess to name the 
matter again. Within ten days, — it was August 25, 
1432, — the body of the favourite was picked up by 
brethren of the Misericordia and given decent burial. 
In the dead man's heart, plunged up to the hilt, was 
the jewelled poniard of the Duchess of Sessa ! The 
incident passed, for the Queen deemed it inexpedient 
to ask for explanations ; besides, she had become 
wearied by the obsequiousness of her Minister, and 
she had other fish to fry ! With rare commercial 
acumen, she seized all Caracciolo's belongings, — most 
of them he had received from herself, — and actually, 
with feminine inconsequence, shared them with the 
Duchess ! 



III. 

Whilst Louis was strengthening his position at 
Naples, Duke Rene of Bar and Lorraine was 
languishing in the Tour de Bar at Bracon, vanquished 
at Bulgneville and crushed by the Duke of 
Burgundy. Louis added his protest against his 
brother's retention in captivity to that of all the 
Sovereigns and peers of France, and his appeal was 
carried by Queen Margherita to her father, the Duke 



GIOVANNA II. DA NAPOLI 239 

of Savoy, whose influence was great with the Court 
of Burgundy. Rene's release on parole for a year 
was largely due to the intercession of his brother. 
Giovanna expressed a wish to see " my other cousin 
of Anjou," as she put it, and Louis pressed his 
brother to bend his steps to Naples and recruit 
his health and spirits in the sunny, merry South. 
The Duke's first step, however, was to hurry off to 
Nancy to fold his heroic wife Isabelle and darling 
children to his breast ; here, too, to regulate many 
affairs of State awaiting his decision. To Angers 
next he boated, to pay his filial homage to his 
courageous, resourceful mother, Queen Yolande, and 
to relieve her of some of the worry of government. 
Ren^, too, had much business to do at the Court of 
King Charles of France, and his loyal, devoted subjects 
in Provence demanded his presence. So passed nearly 
the whole of his twelvemonth's grace. 

Giovanna's reception of her " cousin " was affec- 
tionate in the extreme, and she was warm in her 
admiration of " another handsome Prince of Anjou." 

Nothing, however, would suit her until Rene became 

her guest, and as such he went through all the weird 

experience of his elder brother. It mattered not to the 

Queen that he was a married man with a loving wife 

and dear children ; what mattered to her was that he 

was good-looking, brave, and gallant. To be sure, 

Rene's serious manner disconcerted her, and his 

artistic tastes bored her, but under his studious 

courtesy she tried to believe that he was hiding a 

lively response to her amorous advances. In the 

presence of " il galantuomo Re" — by which term she 

always saluted Louis, — Giovanna named Rene second 

heir to her kingdom, and successor to the title and 

16 



240 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

estates of the duchy of Calabria. She carefully 
refrained from inquiries about Duchess Isabelle ; 
indeed, she ignored her existence altogether, and in 
this line of conduct she was quite consistent, for she 
had declined to receive the young Queen Margherita 
when Louis entered Naples with her in state. 

Rene, however, was instrumental, whilst under 
the fascination of Queen Giovanna, in effecting two 
matters of importance for the kingdom of Naples 
and its people. She had instructed Giovanni 
Capistrani, a perfervid son of Rome, and at the same 
time an admirer of the Queen, whom she had 
appointed Court Chamberlain, to persecute the Jews 
and drive them away from Naples ; all such as 
refused exile he was ordered to put to death. Rene 
interposed in the interpretation of these decrees, and 
gained the Queen's consent to allow the persecuted 
race to remain on two conditions : (l) That they 
should not exact unjust usury ; and (2) that they 
should be marked by a yellow cross to differentiate 
them from the Christian subjects of the Crown. 
Rene further suggested to Giovanna that the Church 
needed her patronage, that she herself would go the 
way of all flesh, and that some accommodation with 
Heaven was very desirable. The Queen laughed his 
counsel to scorn, and badgered him for a crusader 
and a churchling, but his words went home 
even to her hardened, sensuous heart. Capistrani's 
unexpected action, moreover, greatly moved her ; he 
resigned his Court offices and emoluments, and 
meekly entered a monastery of St. Francis d'Assisi. 

Duke Rene returned to his prison at Dijon, and 
King Louis took his bride off to Cosenza, the capital 
of Calabria, where a second marriage was celebrated 



GIOVANNA II. DA NAPOLI 241 

on August 15, 1433, to allay the scruples of preju- 
diced adherents of the Neapolitan throne. A rumour 
had been spread, — originating, it was said, with the 
Queen herself, — which affirmed that Margherita was 
not the wife, but the mistress, of the royal Duke ! 
Eighteen short months of marital bliss were enjoyed 
by Louis and Margherita, broken, alas ! by a fresh 
attack by Alfonso in force on Naples. A naval 
battle off Gaeta, 1434, ended disastrously for the 
fleet of Aragon. Arrayed against it were the allied 
forces of Genoa, Venice, Florence, and Milan. 
Alfonso and his brother Juan were taken prisoners, 
and carried off to Milan by Duke Filippo Maria. 
Then a blow fell on the young Queen and upon the 
whole kingdom of Naples, which made itself felt 
even in the morbid heart of Queen Giovanna. King 
Louis caught fever besieging the city of Taranto, 
and was borne swiftly off to Cosenza, where he 
died, in his own fond Queen's arms, on November 
15, 1434. Few Princes have made themselves so 
universally loved as Louis III. of Sicily and Naples, 
and never were there so many sad hearts and tearful 
eyes in the kingdom of Naples as when his beloved 
body was laid out for burial in the Cathedral of 
Cosenza. 

Giovanna never again recovered her spirits ; to be 
sure, she did not renounce her evil ways, but she set 
about in a hurry to put into execution Duke Rene's 
suggestions. Among belated pious deeds, she rebuilt 
and refounded the Church of Santa Maria dell' 
Annunziata by way of penance for her bad life, and 
there she was buried in front of the high-altar. A 
simple slab of marble points out, in the absence of 
a grandiose monument, the place of her sepulture. 



242 REN£ D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

She died February 2, 1435, and no woman wept for 
her, and no man felt grieved. If it is true that " the 
evil which men do dies with them," then we must 
not rake up the tainting memories of an evil past. 
Giovanna II., Queen of Naples, has passed to her 
last account, and before Heaven's tribunal will she 
stand, alongside with the victims of her vampire- 
love. Faraglia, in his " Storia delta Regina Giovanna 
II d'Angio" makes a brave attempt to whitewash 
the character of the Queen, and he records many- 
interesting details in her daily life. " Every morn- 
ing," he says, " she rose with the sun, spent one hour 
at Mass and private devotions ; then she applied 
herself to the study of music and literature ; at noon 
she breakfasted, generally alone, the afternoon she 
gave to exercise, and before dinner she bathed in a 
bath supplied with the milk of one hundred asses." 
Apparently the Queen gave no time to affairs of 
State, and she had not much leisure for company. 
Undoubtedly Queen Giovanna was the friend of art 
and craft, but only so far as their exponents helped 
to enhance her own attractions and luxuries. Antonio 
Solario — " II Zingaro " — was her favourite painter, 
and, by the oddest of irrational conventions, he has 
represented her in an altar-piece as the Virgin Mary 
with the Infant Christ, and surrounded by a court of 
saints ! 

With what feelings the news of the death of 
Louis III. at Cosenza was received by Rene in his 
prison chamber at Tour de Bar we may well imagine. 
The hold of his house upon the kingdom of Naples 
was, of course, of the weakest ; and if the late King 
upon the spot, free to move what troops and stores 
he had at will, was unable to retain command of 



GIOVANNA II. DA NAPOLI 243 

Naples, how could a captive Prince away in Burgundy 
hope to enforce successfully his claim as his brother's 
heir ? 

In Provence and Anjou and beyond the borders of 
his dominions, with Bar and Lorraine, and with the 
sympathy and assistance of friendly Sovereigns and 
Princes at home and abroad, he had, of course, 
numberless loyal subjects, friends, and allies, but 
among them all not one could enthuse his cause as 
he could himself in person. Three devoted Prin- 
cesses, — Yolande, Isabelle, and Marguerite, — were 
doing all they could to free him from his captivity. 
Their efforts were in the schools of sympathy and 
politics, but they could not lead troops or command a 
victorious army. No doubt Bene was depressed and 
in despair at the apparent paralysis of all effective 
assistance. Then came the crushing intelligence that 
Giovanna, the Queen of Naples, was dead, and that 
he (Rene) was de facto King. This must have made 
him desperate. He had no resources, and there 
appeared no possibility of his obtaining possession of 
his rights. How he chafed and fumed as he paced 
his spacious chamber, and how defiantly he must have 
gazed through its barred windows and at its closed 
door ! Duke Rene's brain must have reeled. 

Relief, however, came in quite an unexpected sort 
of way. One morning the bolts of his door were 
noisily shot back, and upon the threshold he beheld 
two foreign gentlemen unknown to him. They knelt 
and kissed his hand ; then they offered him a permit 
from the Duke of Burgundy, a sealed letter from 
Duchess (now Queen) Isabelle, and a great official 
despatch from the lately deceased Queen Giovanna. 
The two emissaries were devoted adherents to the 



244. RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

House of Anjou-Provence — Baron Charles de Mon- 
telar and Signore Vidal di Cabarus. They came, as 
their credentials ordered, directly from the deathbed 
of the Queen, to tell him from her that, " for the sake 
of the love I had for King Louis, — now, alas ! 
departed, — I chose his noble brother Rene as my 
heir and successor. Long live King Rene !" Into 
his hand the two gentlemen delivered the Sovereign's 
medallion and its royal chain of gold, and again they 
did obeisance to their new Sovereign. 

Rend accepted their homage chivalrously, if sorrow- 
fully, but his eye wandered to the smaller packet held 
by di Cabarus, for he saw it was addressed to him in 
his dear wife's handwriting. Tearing open the cover, 
he read with tears in his eyes the startling news that — 

" Even whilst thou, my fond spouse, readest these 
presents, I, thy loyal wife and royal consort, am 
setting off at once, well mounted and numerously 
attended, to Marseilles to take shipping for Naples, 
there to receive in thy name the homage of the 
Estates and to assume the government. I am taking 
with me our second boy, Louis, with Yolande and 
Marguerite, to show them to thy Neapolitan subjects, 
but Jean I shall send to thee to comfort thee, by the 
grace of the Duke of Burgundy. My sweet mother 
will accompany him to cheer thee and to tell thee of 
my good estate. Fare thee well, beloved. 

»* at ,•,»,•» " Your ISABBLLB. 

"At Nancy, 1434.' 

Isabelle had learned promptness and wisdom from 
her good mother-in-law, Queen Yolande, as well as 
decision and courage from her father, Duke Charles, 
and all these royal virtues she exhibited magnificently 
at this extraordinary juncture. The two Neapolitan 



GIOVANNA II. DA NAFOLI 245 

envoys had, it appeared, gone direct to Nancy to 
learn their new Queen's pleasure, and had thus 
become the bearers of her exhilarating mandate. 
Rene received the intelligence of the masterful action 
of his spouse with mixed feelings. He knelt at his 
prie-dieu, and thanked God and the saints for the 
noble self-sacrifice of his wife ; then, rising proudly 
from his knees, he embraced his two visitors, bestowed 
upon each a ring from his own fingers, and gave them 
instructions to carry his duty to the Duke of Bur- 
gundy, praying for his instant release, and then to 
proceed to Marseilles to convey to Queen Isabelle his 
blessing and his approval of her splendid enterprise. 
No sooner was he left to himself once more than he 
collapsed, weeping like a child and chiding his Maker 
and his captor in language lurid and forcible. The 
irony of his position nearly drove him mad. 

Queen Isabelle landed at Naples in due course, 
and became the object of an extraordinary outburst 
of enthusiasm. Hailed as Queen, and with King 
Rene's name ever reverberating from loyal lip to 
loyal lip, she made no mistake, she had no illusions, 
for she faced the fact at once that there were other 
claimants for the vacant throne and the uneasy 
crown. The King of Aragon she knew as a tradi- 
tional rival, and with him she had to deal most 
seriously and methodically. He, indeed, directly 
news of the Queen's death reached him, had seized 
the Castle of Gaeta, and thence had issued a proc- 
lamation claiming the vacant throne. The Duke of 
Sessa, the husband of Queen Giovanna's favourite 
confidante, Duchess Sancia, claimed the throne as 
representing, — in descent from Robert, Count of 
Avellino, her second husband, — Maria of Calabria- 



246 RENE D 1 ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

Durazzo, sister of Queen Giovanna I. The Prince 
of Taranto, grand-nephew of Giovanna I.'s third 
husband and of her sister Maria's third spouse, the 
Emperor of Constantinople, entered his claims to 
the whole kingdom. He pretended also that King 
Louis III., Rene's brother, had before his death at 
Cosenza made him his heir of all Calabria. From 
a distant kingdom came still another claimant. 
The King of Hungary, Andrew, first consort of 
Giovanna I., had by her a son, it was affirmed, but 
who it was alleged had died in infancy. This child, 
it was maintained, was living, now grown to man's 
estate. The child who died, and was buried as the 
Queen's son, was the son of a servant in the royal 
suite, whilst the young Prince was removed from his 
mother's care and carried off to Hungary, and thus 
reared. 

Isabelle brushed all these claims aside, — save that 
of Alfonso, who alone of the pretenders to the 
crown was prepared to take up, as he had done for 
years, the rights of Aragon in Naples, by force of 
arms. Everywhere throughout the kingdom the 
Anjou dynasty was popular ; the country people 
swore by Louis III., and acclaimed the proclamation 
of Rene. The army alone was disaffected, and was 
corrupted by Spanish gold. The royal treasury at 
Naples was empty, the pay of the loyal troops was 
in arrears ; corruption and fraud filled every depart- 
ment of State. The country gentry and peasantry 
were ruined ; they had been taxed and supertaxed 
by the minions of Queen Giovanna II. From Provence 
and Anjou not much monetary help could be expected, 
and Lorraine and Bar were impoverished. All France 
was suffering from the wreck of the Hundred Years' 




§!m-^^h . • 



GUARINI DA VERONA PRESENTING HIS TRANSLATION OF STRABO S WORK ON 
GEOGRAPHY TO KING RENE 

From a Miniature by King Rene. AIM Library 



To face 'page 246 



GIOVANNA II. DA NAPOLI 247 

War. Rene's ransom required almost every penny 
Yolande, Isabelle, and Marguerite, could raise by love 
and threat. What could be done ? 

The new Queen had come to Naples to claim and 
hold the kingdom for her husband, and she made up 
her mind that she would try every expedient to that 
end, cost what it might. To steal and to borrow 
were not lines of conduct that appealed to her, but 
she could beg, and beg she did. Upon this circum- 
stance historians have fastened, and have written 
more or less eloquently in praise of a dauntless 
Queen. After making up her mind to this course 
of action, Isabelle at once put it into operation, and 
an immense sensation was created in the city when 
their beautiful and virtuous Queen, clothed simply 
in native Neapolitan garb, without jewels or marks 
of royalty, took her place morning by morning 
outside the palace, in the open square, a macaroni 
basket in her fair, white, ringless hands, and there 
pleaded eloquently, in her sweet and musical voice, 
for contributions for the honour of the King and for 
the defence of the city. By her side, clad in 
Neapolitan costumes, were her three little children — 
innocent, fresh, and comely. " It was," wrote a 
chronicler, " a spectacle to move the heart and soul 
of a marble statue — if such it hath. A Queen of 
high degree and impeccability humbling herself for 
her new country's good. Looking upon her and her 
children, one conjured up the base contrast offered 
to our outraged nature by the late Queen, of 
infamous memory." 

Money flowed in fast and full, and the wicker 
cash-box daily carried almost more weight of copper 
and silver, and of articles of jewellery, than the fine 



248 RENti DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

strength of the virago Queen could support. Isabelle 
set about a thorough overhauling of the resources of 
the national exchequer. She personally rallied troops, 
and inspected militarily her recruits ; arrears of pay 
were forthcoming, and the better-disposed men of 
affairs she intuitively selected, and thus purged the 
seats of government. The King of Aragon, amazed 
at Isabelle's courage and ability, refrained from 
attacking Naples. " I'll fight with men," he said, 
" not with a woman I" he exclaimed. " Let us see 
what she will do." 

The state of Naples in general, and of the Court 
in particular, was worse than that of any Augean 
stable. Indeed, of Court, strictly speaking, there was 
none, for the less disreputable nobles had long ago 
gone away to their country estates, taking the seeds 
of corruption with them to sow among their tenantry. 
The coteries which gathered around the abandoned 
Queen like eagles round a carcass were split up into 
murderous, lustful parties, and divided among evil- 
conditioned brothels. Every man was every woman's 
prey, and every woman at the mercy of a libertine. 
The whole city was a colossal orgie, and its inhabi- 
tants sunk in the slough of unmitigated filth. The 
turpitude of Pompeii found a parallel in the un- 
righteousness of Naples. To pull aside the veil which 
merciful Time has placed over those years of banality 
and crime would be a sacrilege. 

" Down among the dead men let them lie !" 

Queen Isabelle, aghast, pulled her veil more closely 
over her fair features, fixed her teeth, and clenched 
her hands. Giovanna and all her doings were taboo 
to her, and by the example and precept of a good 



GIOVANNA II. DA NAPOLI 249 

woman she gradually accomplished what appeared to 
be a Herculean task — she brought the Neapolitans 
to their senses. Mind, in those rapidly pulsating 
Southern natures, quickly controls action, and the 
human animal is not all bad even when so predestined 
by Providence. Isabelle's administration of the 
kingdom of Naples during the three years of her 
sole government was by way of being a moral 
renascene of humanity, and, when Rene joined his 
noble consort, the roses which decorated his triumphal 
entry were richly perfumed by his wife's sweet cul- 
ture. 

The prisoner of Bracon was set unconditionally 
free in 1437, and he hurried away to Marseilles, 
passing through his beloved country of Provence, 
hailed everywhere and by everyone with ecstatic 
devotion. At his port of departure for Naples he 
was met by Queen Yolande. Never was there a 
more affecting scene : the mother, — still bearing 
traces of her early beauty and grace, — bowed down 
with grief and aged prematurely ; the son grown 
older than his age under the rigours, mental and 
physical, of his long imprisonment, but still devoted, 
grateful, and chivalrous. Yolande had fain pressed 
Rene to remain in France and comfort her declining 
years, for, were they parted, she felt that she never 
more should fold him to her heart — a heart pierced 
deeply by the premature death of Louis. Yet she 
played the Spartan mother, not spectacularly but 
sincerely, and, hushing the sobs of parting, she bravely 
waved the King of Naples her last farewell. His 
father and his brother had both traversed the way 
Rene was taking ; their experience would doubtless 
be his. 



250 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

Rene had a great reception at Naples, and his joy 
was unclouded when he embraced his noble wife and 
his four young children, with tears coursing down his 
cheeks. His recognition as Sovereign was celebrated 
in the cathedral. There he and Isabelle knelt hand 
in hand in thankful confidence. Not long did the 
new King remain in the bosom of his family. Alfonso 
broke his parole, and prepared a fresh expedition to 
attack Naples. Rene went off at once to Rome, 
Florence, Venice, Genoa, and Milan, to rally help in 
his emergency. During his captivity the King of 
Aragon had played the cards so adroitly that he had 
succeeded in detaching the Duke, his captor, from 
the triple alliance. Moreover, he gained over to his 
side Pope Eugenius IV. by promising to make Sicily 
a fief of the Church. The Aragonese attack failed, 
though the forces at King Rene's command suffered 
terribly. 

At this juncture Queen Isabelle and her children, 
except the heir to the throne, returned to France, 
much against her will, but obedient to her royal 
consort's wishes. Jean, Duke of Calabria, now a 
promising lad of nearly thirteen, remained with his 
father at the post of danger. Alfonso was by no 
means discouraged ; he intended to be master of 
Naples cost him what it might. In 1440 and 1441 
he made fresh assaults on Naples and other seaports 
of the Calabrian peninsula. All of these Rene 
resisted triumphantly, but at Troia, on October 21 
in the latter year, Alfonso in person defeated Rene's 
army under the command of Sforza and Sanseverino, 
and made good his footing in the kingdom of Naples. 
He further pressed home his attack upon the capital 
by seizing the island of Ischia, where he compelled 



GIOVANNA II. DA NAPOLI 251 

the women, whether married or not, to wed his 
victorious soldiers. Rene wearied of the contest ; 
he had been warring for twenty years, and he 
yearned for repose. The Neapolitans quickly took 
his measure, and his indecision and slackness of 
energy disheartened his principal supporters. His 
troops fell away from him, and when, in May, 1442, 
the King of Aragon once more summoned the capital 
to surrender, Rene meekly handed over the keys to 
his enemy, and made his escape to Marseilles. 
Alfonso on June 2 entered Naples in triumph, and 
put an end to the rule of the Angevine Kings. 

Alfonso has been styled "the Magnanimous"; 
perhaps " the Philosopher " would fit his character 
better. He was a student of metaphysics and a 
classicist to boot, and, moreover, he had a ready wit. 
He hated dancing and frivolity, and once remarked 
that " a man who danced only differed from a fool 
because his folly was shorter I" An ideal domestic 
menage appeared to him to be " a blind wife and a 
deaf husband." His treasurer was one day giving 
out scrip for 20,000 ducats, when an officer 
standing by exclaimed : " Alack, if I only had that 
amount I should be a happy man !" " Take it," 
replied the King ! 

Nevertheless, Alfonso was hated by his new 
subjects quite as thoroughly as Rene had been 
beloved. The war dragged on ; in Calabria the 
Prince of Taranto raised once more the banner of 
Anjou, and Giovanni Toreglia, a cousin of Lucrezia 
d'Alagni, Alfonso's last mistress, seized Ischia for 
Jean, Duke of Calabria, Rene's eldest son. Rene 
himself made two more attempts to regain Giovanna's 
inheritance : in 1458 and 1461 ; but Charles VII. 



252 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

and Louis XI. each failed him in turn with reinforce- 
ments. Last of all, Jean, Duke of Calabria, was 
decisively defeated at Troia in 1462 by Ferdinand I., 
Alfonso's bastard son, who succeeded to the throne 
of Naples after his father's death in 1458, a man 
treacherous and vindictive, and a libertine. " Sic 
transit gloria mundi " may be written as a footnote 
to the story of Naples in the fifteenth century. 



CHAPTER VIII 

MARGUERITE d'aNJOU "THE MOST INTREPID OF QUEENS" 

I. 

" Margaret op Anjou was the loveliest, the best- 
educated, and the most fearless Princess in Christen- 
dom !" High praise indeed, but not more than her 
due, and universally accorded her by every historian 
who has undertaken to chronicle her character and 
career. 

Born at the Castle of Pont-a-Mousson, — one of 
the finest in all Lorraine, and a favourite residence 
of her father and mother, — on March 23, 1429, 
Margaret was the youngest child of Rene, Duke of 
Bar, and Isabelle of Lorraine his wife. Her father 
was far away from his home when this pretty babe 
first smiled upon her sweet mother. He was escort- 
ing La Pucelle to Chinon, and leading the troops 
of Charles VII. to victory. Her mother was 
Lieutenant-General of the duchies — a devoted and 
heroic spouse. The little girl's cradle was rocked 
amid the rivalries and hostilities of the Houses of 
Lorraine and Vaudemont. She was the child of 
Mars. She was baptized by Henri de Ville, Bishop 
of Toul, who had just been created, by the Emperor 

Sigismund, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. 

253 



254 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

The Bishop was a trusty friend of Duke Rene in 
shower and shine. 

That ducal nursery, where faithful Theophaine la 
Magine bore maternal nursing sway, was a merry 
one ; for Margaret's brothers Jean, Louis, and little 
Nicholas, — twin with her only sister Yolande, — were 
all vigorous youngsters. Then, besides these legiti- 
mate children, the Castle of Bar-le-Duc sheltered 
another Jean and Blanche and Madeleine, born to 
their father out of wedlock. The ducal sepulchre 
had given rest to two other baby boys, Charles and 
Rene, own brothers to little Margaret. 

Margaret's experience of the joys and sorrows of 
the world began at a very early age. Her doting 
father was a captive away at Dijon under the 
rigorous hand of the Duke of Burgundy, and Duchess 
Isabelle was up and about seeking his deliverance. 
Rene and she had succeeded Charles II. as Duke and 
Duchess of Lorraine the same year that saw the 
Tour de Bar receive its distinguished prisoner, and 
upon Isabelle fell all the complications and difficulties 
attending the succession. To be sure, she had the 
very able help of the Dowager Duchess, her own 
dear mother Marguerite, godmother of her little girl, 
but the first consideration in her mind was her 
husband's liberty. Handing over the reins of govern- 
ment to Duchess Marguerite and the Council of 
State, Isabelle betook herself to the Court of 
Charles VII. to claim his assistance and interference. 
With her she took her two little daughters — Yolande, 
only three years old, and Margaret, but two. Her 
sons were sent to Burgundy to stand as hostages at 
the Duke's orders, and little Nicholas remained with 
his grandmother at Nancy. 




MARGUERITE D ANJOU 
From a Miniature by King Rene, in "Le Livre des Hemes" 



To face page 254 



MARGUERITE D^NJOU 255 

At Vienne, where the French Court was at the 
time, having gone south from Reims and the corona- 
tion, the King gave his brother-in-law's consort a 
very hearty greeting, but he hesitated to commit 
himself to action which might ferment once more 
evil blood between his people and the Burgundians. 
Isabelle held by their hands, as she pleaded for her 
dear husband, her two baby girls, and Charles's 
indecision was overcome by little Margaret, then a 
dauntless infant, who ran up to him and insisted 
upon being nursed upon his knee and kissed. A 
child's instinctive disingenuousness is affected by 
magnetic natures regardless of conventions and pro- 
prieties ; how often and often again is this proved 
to be axiomatic ! That interview was memorable 
for the meeting of Charles with a woman — to be sure, 
then a girl — who would in after-years affect him and 
his considerably. Agnes Sorel was in attendance 
upon the Duchess Isabelle. Charles beheld her for 
the first time, and her face and figure haunted him 
for good and ill many a long day. 

Not content with winning over the King of France 
to intercede for the liberation of her consort, the 
Duchess returned to Lorraine, and went off at once 
to Vaudemont to plead with Count Antoine, the 
Duke of Burgundy's brother, in the same cause. 
Vaudemont agreed to assist his kinswoman, but 
upon one chief condition, among others — that she 
would consent to Yolande, her eldest daughter, being 
betrothed to his eldest son Ferri. There was, of 
course, method in this extraordinary proposal, — for 
the child was only three years of age,— and it was 
this : He, the Count, claimed Lorraine, by the Salic 
Law, as first heir male against Isabelle. What- 

17 



256 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

ever might eventuate, his son married to Rene's 
daughter would be an additional lien upon the 
duchy. This policy also commended itself to 
Isabelle's prudential mind, and she gave a qualitative 
consent dependent upon confirmation by Duke Rene 
later on. The Count added a rider to the stipulation, 
and that was the committal of the girl to the care 
of his wife, the Countess, for education and training. 
This, too, the Duchess accepted, although it cost 
her sore to part with her dear child. Margaret and 
Nicholas alone remained to solace her ; but Isabelle 
was far too strong a character to spend much time 
in comforting or being comforted. Whilst Rene was 
in durance vile she could not remain idle ; so off she 
went, taking Margaret and Nicholas with her, to 
the Castle of Tarascon, in order to enlist the sym- 
pathies and services of Rene's devoted Provencals. 

Isabelle's coming into Provence provoked remark- 
able demonstrations on the part of the warm- 
hearted and loyal subjects of the county. Trou- 
badours and glee maidens flocked to the Rhone 
shore ; they sang, they danced, they ate, they drank, 
and laid floral offerings and votive crowns at the feet 
of their Countess and her tender children. Bonfires 
blazed from shore to shore, and echoes of the rejoic- 
ings might have been carried by the warm south wind 
right into the dungeoned ears of their beloved Count. 
Whilst Duchess Isabelle was in residence at Tarascon 
negotiations were already on foot for the betrothal 
of little Margaret. An eligible suitor arrived, the 
young Pierre de Luxembourg, eldest son of the Count 
of St. Pol, whose esquire, by a singular coincidence, 
happened to be the recipient at Bulgneville of 
Duke Rene's sword. Arrangements for the cere- 



MARGUERITE D'ANJOU 257 

mony of espousal were, however, rudely interrupted 
by a serious outbreak of plague, and Isabelle 
and her children fled to Marseilles, where they 
remained till Rene joined them, released upon a 
year's parole. 

When Rene was proclaimed King of Sicily, 
Naples, and Jerusalem, Duke of Anjou, and Count 
of Provence, upon the premature death of his elder 
brother, Louis III., at Cosenza, Isabelle was again 
at Marseilles, on her way to take possession of her 
husband's rights in Naples. Such pageants and 
spectacles at those exhibited in her honour by the 
exuberant Marseillais that city had never seen. She 
rode through ranks on ranks of cheering citizens, 
in a great state chariot covered with crimson and 
gold, and wearing a queenly crown upon her head, 
and with her were Jean, her eldest son, and Margaret 
and Nicholas. The little Princess captivated every- 
body by her naivete and the graceful kissing of her 
little hand. Margaret sent kisses flying through 
every street, winning all men's loyalty and the love 
of all the boys. 

Queen Isabelle and her children took up their 
residence at the Palace of Capua. Queen Giovanna 
offered her the new royal palace in Naples, but 
Isabelle's instinct was not in error when she chose 
to dwell a little distance from the royal hussy. 
There King Rene joined his family, bringing with 
him both Louis, his second son, and Yolande. The 
reunion was the happiest that could be. Upon the 
King devolved, of course, the onus of government, 
with the co-operation of Queen Giovanna. Queen 
Isabelle, relieved from the trammels of the executive, 
had now a much-longed-for respite in which to give 



258 RENE D' ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

attention to the neglected education of her children. 
She constituted herself their teacher-in-chief, but 
called to her assistance the very noted writer of 
French romance, Antoine de Salle. Alas ! it was a 
brief interlude indeed, for the studies had hardly 
had time to affect the young pupils when the King 
of Aragon resumed his hostile demonstration against 
the Angevine dynasty, and Rene and his were 
locked in the grip of war. Very unwillingly Queen 
Isabelle agreed to return to France with her children, 
Naples being an armed camp and the whole country 
in a turmoil. They wended their way leisurely to 
Anjou, and not to Lorraine. Two reasons dictated 
this course. Angers was the capital par excellence 
of the dominions of the King of Sicily- Anjou, the 
ancestral seat of his house, and Anjou was more 
favourably conditioned than Lorraine or Bar for the 
completion of the training of the royal children. 
Queen Yolande was only too delighted to welcome 
her brave daughter-in-law and to caress her beloved 
grandchildren. She went off to the Castle of 
Saumur, her favourite residence, and the walls of the 
grim Castle of Angers once more resounded to the 
merry laughter of childish games. Sadly enough 
those joyous sounds yielded place to saddest dirges 
when Prince Nicholas, not yet ten years old, died 
suddenly of poison. This was the first break by 
Death into that home circle. 

The King and Queen were again in residence at 
the Castle of Tarascon in 1443, and there, on 
February 2, they received an imposing mission from 
the Duke of Burgundy, headed by Guillaume 
Harancourt, Bishop of Verdun, the Seigneurs Pierre 
de Beaupremont and Adolphe de Charny, with 



MARGUERITE DANJOU 259 

Antoine de Gaudel, the Duke's principal secretary. 
They came to Tarascon to negotiate a marriage 
between the Duke's nephew, Charles de Borugges, 
son of Philippe, Count of Nevers, and the Princess 
Margaret. This bridegroom expectant had been very 
much in the matrimonial market before accepting the 
choice of his uncle. His first fiancee was Jeanne, 
daughter of Robert, Count de la Marche ; she gave 
place to Anne, Duchess of Austria ; and she in turn 
was passed over before the greater charms of the 
Angevine Princess. The contract of betrothal with 
Pierre de Luxembourg was cancelled, and Charles de 
Nevers was the choice of Rene and Isabelle. 

The date for signing the marriage contract was 
fixed, February 4, and to all the articles the King 
and Queen readily assented. The dowry was 
50,000 livres, but how that large sum was to be 
raised neither Rene nor Isabelle had the slightest 
idea ; they had exhausted their exchequer in the 
fruitless fight for Naples. The Duke of Burgundy, 
acting as next of kin to the bridegroom-elect, promised 
to settle a jointure of 40,000 livres on Margaret. 
Rene had put forward a plea that the Duke should 
forego 80,000 ecus d'or, which was due on loans, and 
Philippe agreed, receiving as further security and 
indemnity to the towns of Neufchateau, Preny, and 
Longwy, — already in pawn to him, — the Castles of 
Clermont, Varennes, and Renne, all in Argone. A 
secret clause was, however, at the eleventh hour 
foisted upon the Angevine Sovereigns — a pro- 
ceeding quite in accordance with the proverbial 
cunning of the Court of Burgundy. It stipulated 
that the children of Charles and Margaret should 
be heirs - presumptive of Sicilv - Anjou - Provence, 



260 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

Lorraine, and Bar, to the exclusion of the issue of 
Ferri and Yolande de Vaudemont. 

The judicial mind of King Rene would not let his 
consent to this article be recorded until he had con- 
sulted both the Count de Vaudemont and King 
Charles of France. The former indignantly inter- 
viewed the Duke of Burgundy, and stated his deter- 
mination to oppose the proposed marriage. Charles 
resented the stipulation upon the ground of its 
injustice, and warned his brother-in-law not to agree 
to any such proposals. The marriage contract was 
not signed, and, whilst acrimonious negotiations were 
carried on both at Dijon and Vienne, another and a 
very much more illustrious suitor of the hand of 
Princess Margaret appeared upon the scene, no less a 
person than Henry VI., King of England and France. 

When the matter was first mooted, it was thought 
nothing of by the King and Queen of Sicily, because 
Henry had been all but betrothed to Isabelle^ the 
daughter of the Count of Armagnac, to whom he 
owed so very much in earlier days. Indeed, the 
gossip went so far as to link the English King's name 
in turn with all three daughters of the Count — the 
loveliest girls in France : " Three Graces of Armag- 
nac " they were called. Henry had sent his favourite 
painter, Hans of Antwerp, to paint the three comely 
sisters, and his handiwork was so acceptable to the 
royal young bachelor that he sat and gazed at them 
for long, changing the order of their arrangement to 
see which face of the beauteous three made the 
most passionate appeal. The Armagnac marriage was 
backed by all the influence of the Duke of Gloucester, 
the younger of the King's uncles, and lately Lord 
Protector of England. 



MARGUERITE D"ANJOU 261 

What drew Margaret of Anjou into the orbit of 
Henry of England was that she had gone on a visit 
to her aunt, Queen Marie of France, and had at the 
French Court created quite a sensation. She was 
nearly fourteen years of age, and gave fascinating 
indications of those charms of mind and person which 
made her " the most lovely, the best-educated, and 
the most fearless Princess in Christendom." 

Cardinal Beaufort was also a visitor at King 
Charles's castle at Chinon, and was immensely moved 
by Margaret's appearance and accomplishments. He 
also detected her latent strength of character, and 
certain traits therein which marked her unerringly as 
the counterfoil of his royal pupil and master's mental 
and moral weaknesses. The Cardinal returned to 
England full of the charms of the young Princess, 
and descanted upon them so enthusiastically to the 
King that Henry was in a perfect fever to behold the 
beauteous Princess for himself. His amorous appe- 
tite was further stimulated by conversations he quite 
accidentally had with one Jules Champchevier, a 
prisoner of war on parole from Anjou, lodging with 
Sir John FalstafF, in attendance upon the King. 
Champchevier was sent off to Saumur to obtain, if 
possible, a portrait of the bewitching young Princess. 
The King wished her to be painted quite simply and 
naturally " in a plain kirtle, her face unpainted, and 
her hair in coils." He required information about 
" her height, her form, the colour of her skin, her 
hair, her eyes, and what size of hand she hath." 

Champchevier was taken prisoner on landing in 
France, and threatened with death for breaking his 
parole whilst executing the royal commission ; but 
news reaching Charles VII. of the unfortunate fellow's 



262 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

predicament, he laughed heartily at the situation 
when he learned the reason of his mission, and forth- 
with ordered his release. The idea of a matrimonial 
contract between his royal rival and his royal niece 
opened His Majesty's eyes to possibilities created 
thereby of a satisfactory peace between the two 
countries. Once more, — and how many times before 
and since ! — a royal maiden's heart contained the key 
to great political issues. 

The portrait was painted exactly to order — perhaps, 
and quite correctly, with a little artistic embellish- 
ment. The beauty of Nature is always enhanced by 
the decorative features of art. Henry was charmed 
with the sweet face he gazed and gazed upon, quite 
putting into the shade the other reigning beauties of 
his heart. He was himself as comely as might be, 
just four-and-twenty, highly educated, his mind un- 
usually refined. In thought and deed he was pure 
and devout, and very shy of strange women. Upon 
the latter head he was emphatic, for when at Court 
or elsewhere he beheld women with open bosoms 
a VIsabeau de Baviere he was shocked, and turned 
away his face, muttering : " Oh fie ! oh fie ! ye be 
much to blame !" His earnest wish was marriage, 
not concubinage. The King's choice very soon 
became noised abroad, and the Court became agitated 
and divided. The Duke of Gloucester, the King's 
next of kin and heir-presumptive to the throne, 
championed the Armagnac match, whilst Cardinal 
Beaufort and the Earl of Suffolk decided for Margaret 
of Anjou. 

There was, however, an obstacle in the way, quite 
consistently with the proverbial rugged course of all 
true love : the Count of Nevers refused to release 



MARGUERITE D'ANJOU 263 

his fiancee. He was prepared, he averred, to cancel 
the contentious clause in the marriage contract, made 
at Tarascon, and not to insist upon anything deroga- 
tory to the dignity of King Rene and his elder 
daughter, the Countess Ferri de Vaudemont. The 
prospect to Rene of such an auspicious union, how- 
ever, which would place his daughter upon one of the 
greatest of European thrones, was too dazzling to be 
ignored, and the outcome of the imbroglio was the 
assembling in January, 1444, of a mixed Commission, 
representing England, France, Anjou, and Bur- 
gundy, at Tours, whereat two protocols were framed : 
a treaty for a two years' peace, and a marriage agree- 
ment between the King of England and the Princess 
of Anjou. This was signed on May 2 8 of the same 
3^ear. The marriage contract thus drawn out was 
very favourable to the House of Sicily- Anjou : Henry 
asked for no dowry, but required only the rights 
transmitted to King Rene by Queen Yolande with 
respect to the kingdom of Minorca. Henry further 
agreed to the retrocession of Le Mans and other points 
in Anjou held by the English. 

To the Earl of Suffolk, the leading English pleni- 
potentiary, was mainly due the successful issue of the 
conference. Henry created him Marquis and Grand 
Seneschal of the Royal Household. The King further- 
more despatched to him an autograph letter to the 
following effect : " As you have lately, by the Divine 
favour and grace, in our name, and for us, engaged 
verbally the excellent, magnificent, and very bright 
Margaret, the second daughter of the King of Sicily, 
and sworn that we shall contract marriage with her, 
we consent thereto, and will that she be conveyed to 
us over the seas at our expense." Arrangements were 



264 RENE DA.NJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

forthwith made for the immediate marriage of the 
Princess. Suffolk, — one of the handsomest and most 
cultivated men of the day, though now verging on 
fifty years of age, — headed a majestic embassy to 
Nancy, where the Sicily -Anjou Court was in resi- 
dence. He bore with him a dispensation from his 
royal master to act as his proxy at the nuptial cere- 
mony, and to receive in his name the hand of his 
fascinating bride. It was indeed a notable function, 
and held in the ancient cathedral of Tours, whereat 
all that was royal, noble, brave, and beautiful, for- 
gathered. The witnesses for Margaret were the 
King and Queen of France, the King and Queen of 
Sicily-Anjou, and the Duke and Duchess of Calabria, 
with the Dauphin Louis. The Princess's supporters 
were the Duke of Alencon, the most gallant and most 
accomplished Prince in France, and the Marquis of 
Suffolk, the premier noble of England. Upon the 
latter's consort, the clever Marchioness, devolved the 
duties of Mistress of the Robes. 

That day, — February 27, 1445, — was a red-letter 
day in the annals of all three kingdoms. Louis 
d'Harcourt, Bishop of Toul, was chief celebrant, 
assisted by half the prelates of France, and Cardinal 
Beaufort was in choir to administer the Papal 
benediction. The young Queen's Maids of Honour 
were the two most lovely girls in France — Jehanne 
de Laval, in the suite of Queen Marie, and Agnes 
Sorel, in that of Queen Isabelle. It was a singular 
and delightful coincidence that these two lovely 
damsels were in evidence on that auspicious 
day ; for were they not the charming cynosures re- 
spectively of two pairs of kingly eyes — Rene and 
Charles ! 



MARGUERITE D'ANJOTT 265 

The interest and the importance of the celebration 
was heightened considerably by the fact that there 
was a double wedding : Count Ferri de Vaude'mont 
and Princess Yolande of Sicily- Anjou were united in 
the bonds of matrimony immediately after the nuptials 
of the new Queen. Fetes and festivities were carried 
out right royally for eight whole days and nights. 
The " Lists " were held in the great wide Place de 
Carriere in Nancy. Charles and Rene met in 
amicable conflict, but it was the former's lance which 
was tossed up, and Rene gained the guerdon, which 
he presented gallantly enough to his sister, the Queen 
of France. The champion of champions, however, 
was none other than Pierre de Luxembourg, the 
earliest fiancee of Queen Margaret, and he had the 
happy satisfaction of receiving the victor's crest of 
honour from her hands — now another's ! Minstrelsy 
and the stage also lent their aid to the general 
rejoicings. King Rene was already styled the 
" Royal Troubadour," and he rallied his melodious, 
merry men in a goodly phalanx, whilst he himself 
led the music in person and recited his own new 
marriage poem. The theatre proper had only very 
recently been established in France. Church 
mysteries and pageant plays had had their vogue, 
when, in 1402, Charles VI. granted his charter to 
" La Confrererie de la Passion," — a company, or 
guild, of masons, carpenters, saddlers, and other 
craftsmen, and women, — which he established at the 
village of St. Maur, near Vincennes. These merry 
fellows introduced to their distinguished audience, in 
the Castle of Nancy, secular travesties of the well- 
worn religious spectacles, and won the heartiest 
applause. King Rene personally, through the 



266 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

gracious hands of the royal bride, decorated the 
actors with gay ribbons and medallions. 

The dress of the right royal company was, as may 
well be supposed, sumptuous in the extreme ; but 
among the wearers of rich attire a pathetic note was 
struck, when it was mooted that royal Margaret 
had been dressed for her bridal by Queen Marie, her 
aunt, because her own parents were too much im- 
poverished to supply suitable marriage robes ! The 
bride's dress was mainly that worn by Queen Marie 
herself, twenty-three years before, at her own nuptials 
with Charles VII. The kirtle was of cloth of gold 
cunningly embroidered with the white lilies of France 
— the same for Anjou ; the robe of state was of 
crimson velvet bordered with ermine, which also 
formed the trimming of the stomacher she wore. 
Her hair was dressed a VAngloise, its rich golden 
coils being crowned with a royal diadem, almost the 
only jewel of Queen Yolande's treasury which had 
not been sold or pawned. The little Queen was 
slight of build and short of stature for her age ; very 
fair of skin, with a peachy blush ; her eyes light 
blue, her hair a golden auburn ; her whole face and 
figure lent themselves to delightful expression and 
graceful pose. Above all, she was very self-possessed, 
and gave all beholders the impression of ability and 
decision beyond the average. 

With respect to King Rene's inability to provide 
a fitting trousseau for his daughter, there is an entry 
in the Comptes de Roy Rene' which indicates that 
he was not unmindful of the sartorial requirements of 
his family. Under date September 11, 1442, is an 
order, addressed to Guillaume de la Planche, mer- 
chant of Angers, for 1 1 aulnes of cloth of gold, em- 



MARGUERITE DANJOU 267 

broidered in crimson and pleated, at 3 ecus per aulne, 
with a suite of trimming to cost 30 livres. At 
the same time Francois Castargis, furrier of Angers, 
is directed to supply ten dozen finest marten skins at 
a cost of £15 7s. 6d., and to pack and despatch 
them to the care of the Seigneur de Precigny 
at Saumur, " for dresses for Madame Margaret." 
This de Precigny was Bertrand de Beauvau, 
who married King Rene's natural daughter Blanche 
d'Anjou. 

At the wedding of Henry VI. and Margaret at 
Tours and Nancy, the courtiers were very richly attired 
in short jackets or tunics of pleated brocade trimmed 
with silk fringes ; their body hose was of parti- 
coloured spun silk to match their tunics. Their shoes 
were made long, of white kid with high heels, and 
w T ere laced with golden thread. Calves where skimpy 
were padded, and narrow shoulders were puffed out. 
They wore long pendent sleeves, pricked and furred. 
Their hair, generally worn a la Nazarene, hung in 
thick straight locks upon their shoulders, cut square 
over the forehead. A small berretta, with a heron's 
plume and a jewelled brooch, completed the costume. 
Chains of gold and jewels were worn at will. The 
ladies of the Court wore short kirtles or petticoats, 
with long bunched-up trains of silk brocade in two 
contrasting colours ; cloth of gold was reserved for 
dames of royal degree. Strict rules were observed 
in the wearing of fur — its quality and its breadth ; 
ermine was reserved for royalty. Their gloves were 
long-fingered, and their shoes long-toed, the points 
of each being caught up with thin golden chains to 
their garters — " un chose ridicule et absude" as 
Paradin wrote. The salient mark adopted by the 



268 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

ladies of fashion was noted in their coiffures. The 
popular name, or, rather, the name of scorn, — thanks 
to Father Thomas of Brittany, — for the astounding 
headgear a la mode, " hennin," was in select circles 
called en papillons — " butterflied." Some ladies had 
double horns like the mitres of Bishops, some had 
round redoubts " comme les donjons," some were half- 
moon shape, and some like hearts, whilst many goodly 
dames made themselves still more ridiculous by wear- . 
ing miniature windmills ! All these erections were 
made of white stiffened linen, built up on frameworks 
of w 7 icker and carton. Over all fioquarts, — thin gauze 
veils, — were gently cast. Collars of jewels and ropes 
of pearls were de rigueur, and most of the ladies 
wore badges of chivalry — the guerdons of their lords 
and sweethearts. One very pretty conceit was intro- 
duced at the time of Queen Margaret's marriage — 
a dainty holder for the necessary pocket-handkerchief. 
This took the shape of a small heart of gold suspended 
from an enamelled white marguerite, and hung 
at the side of the jewelled cincture. The ladies' 
shoes were richly embroidered with seed-pearls 
and gold thread. Rings were worn outside the 
gloves. 

Among the suite sent by Henry to attend upon 
his bride were the Countess of Shrewsbury and 
the Lady Emma de Scales, with five Barons and 
Baronesses of the realm. In attendance, too, was 
Scrivener William Andrews, Private Secretary to the 
King, who acted as juris-consult at the signing of 
the marriage registers. In his diary he wrote : 
" Never have I seen or heard of a young Princess 
so greatly loved and admired." 

Upon the ninth day after the marriage ceremony 



MARGUERITE D'ANJOU 269 

Queen Margaret took a tearful but brave farewell 
of her fond parents and of the princely company, and 
King Rene committed her proudly, yet regretfully, 
to the care of the Marquis of Suffolk. An imposing 
cavalcade accompanied the parting Queen ; indeed, 
all Nancy, noble and bourgeois, rich and poor, turned 
out to do honour to Her Majesty. King Charles 
and Queen Marie went as far as Toul, and then bade 
their niece adieu. Charles was strangely sad, and 
said with a deep-drawn sigh : " I seem to have done 
nothing for you, my well-beloved niece, in placing 
you upon one of the greatest thrones in Europe, but 
it certainly is worthy of possessing you as Queen." 
Queen Marie's farewell was very affecting : " I bid 
you God-speed, my best-loved niece. I am sure I 
do not know what we shall do without you. I weep 
for you, my child !" 

King Rene and Queen Isabelle travelled with their 
dear daughter right on to Bar-le-Duc, where the 
cortege was enthusiastically received, and where a 
rest was called over the Sunday, and parents and 
daughter partook of the Communion. Then, on the 
morrow, Margaret broke down completely at the 
parting, and both Rene and Isabelle gave way to 
sobs and tears. If the prospect of the royal marriage 
had been pleasant to them all, its realization and the 
future filled their hearts with apprehension. A 
dearly loved child was now to make her way all 
alone among strangers — too young to go so far from 
home, but too good to err. 

" Je fais peur pour vous, ma fille" cried the 
sorrowing father, " en vous plagant sur un des plus 
grands trones de Chretiente ; que le bon Dieu vous 
gardiez. Pour moi et pour votre mere, nous sommes 



270 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

tous les deux desoles."* Queen Isabelle's heart was 
too full for words. She folded her child to her 
bosom, and the two wept together. It was Margaret 
who first dried her tears, and said bravely : " N'ayez 
aucun regret pour moi ; je serai votre jille la plus 
devouee pour jamais. Si mon corps vecut en Angle- 
terre, mon dme restera trousjours en France avec 
la voire." f 

Bare-headed, King Rene stood at the castle portal 
till Margaret and her escort had faded from his sight ; 
then he and the Queen shut themselves up in their 
apartments and gave way to their pent-up feelings. 
Travelling as the Queen of England, Margaret had 
now for her supporters her brother, the Duke of 
Calabria, the Duke of Alenqon, and the courteous 
Marquis of Suffolk. Leisurely enough the company 
traversed the fertile fields of Champagne, ever aiming 
for the north French coast. Besides a strong escort 
of soldiery, in the royal train were seventeen knights 
and two esquire-carvers, sixty-five esquires, twenty 
grooms, and 174 servitors of all kinds, and with 
them serving-maids and dressers. At every stopping- 
place heartiest greetings awaited the young Queen, 
and Princes and nobles knelt to pay their homage. 
The English garrisons en route were forward in their 
loyal salutations ; their new Queen was the pledge 
of a greatly -yearned-for entente cordiale. 

At Nantes the Duke of York, King Henry's near 

* "I am fearful for you, my daughter, in placing you upon one 
of the mightiest thrones in Christendom ; may the good God 
protect you. As for me and your mother, we are filled with desola- 
tion." 

f " Do not feel any regret for me ; I shall be always your most 
devoted daughter. If my body dwells in England, my soul shall 
rest always in France with yours." 



MARGUERITE D'ANJOU 271 

kinsman, and the representative of the older line of 
the English Royal House, received the Queen, and 
entertained her in the castle of the French Kings. 
On March 23 the royal progress ended at Rouen, 
where a week's rest was called. Bicknoke, in his 
" Computus," has enumerated several curious items 
in the bill of costs which covered the lengthy journey 
from Lorraine. The Barons and Baronesses of the 
Queen's suite received each four shillings and six- 
pence a day, the knights had half a crown each a 
day, and, at the tail of the following, the grooms 
were paid no more than fourpence per diem. At 
Rouen the Queen paid four shillings and ninepence 
for fourteen pairs of shoes to give to certain poor 
women of the town. She also made many purchases 
of second-hand silver plate from a silversmith, 
Jean Tubande by name. The articles were chiefly 
cups and plates which bore the arms of Henry, 
Count of Luxembourg, father of her first fiance. 
These escutcheons the Queen had removed, and in 
place of them marguerites were engraved. The 
Queen, moreover, came short of ready cash, so she 
pawned some of her real silver wedding presents to 
the Marchioness of Suffolk, that she might have the 
wherewithal for gifts to the seamen on her transport 
to England. 

The royal party embarked in river boats, and made 
for Honfleur, where the Cokke John, a great galley, 
was waiting off the port. Such a stormy passage 
as that which was the prelude to Queen Margaret's 
triumphant progress to the English capital had 
hardly been exceeded for fury in the memory of the 
most ancient mariners. Thunder and lightning and 
sheets of ice-cold water threatened to destroy the 

18 



m rene DANJOU and his seven queens 

stately craft and to engulf her lordly fares. After 
beating about in the Channel for one whole day 
and night, with utmost difficulty the harbour of 
Porchester was attained on April 10. 

It was rather hard upon the Queen's impoverished 
exchequer that she should have been called upon to 
pay £5 4s. lOd. for her pilot, £13 6s. 8d. for new 
hawsers, and £9 7s. for alterations and repairs in 
the vessel. 

The terrified young Queen had never beheld the 
angry sea before nor tasted its misery, and she was 
utterly prostrated in her state-room, and wept and 
cried for her mother and to God for help. The 
Marquis raised her inanimate form gently in his arms, 
and wading bravely to land through the scudding 
sea-foam, he bore his precious burden, march- 
ing manfully along the fresh-rush-strewn streets of 
the little fishing town. King Henry was at Winches- 
ter, anxiously awaiting couriers who should gladden 
his ears by the news of his royal bride's arrival, and 
he galloped off at once to greet her at the Goddes 
House of Southwick, whither she was borne for 
rest and treatment. Unhappily, Margaret had con- 
tracted some infectious complaint, — perhaps chicken- 
pox, — and, very tantalizing for herself and Henry, 
their meeting was postponed until her illness had 
abated. 

At the priory church of St. Mary and All Saints 
the ceremony of the English espousal was celebrated 
by Cardinal Kemp, and Henry placed upon Mar- 
garet's finger the ring which he had worn at his 
coronation in Paris eighteen years before. If the 
King was charmed by the portrait of his Queen, he 
was transported with joy and passion when he beheld 



MARGUERITE D'ANJOU 273 

and embraced beauteous Margaret. The half of her 
excellence had not been revealed in pigment ; she 
was more, much more, lovely and attractive than he 
had imagined. Preparations for the state nuptials 
were hurried forward, and also for the coronation of 
the Queen, and Henry with his bride rowed on to 
Southampton, saluted as they passed by all the 
shipping in the Solent. Two Genoese galleys in 
particular were gaily festooned and manned, and as 
the royal barge swept by seven trumpeters blew a 
wedding fanfare, and then the crews shouted their 
loud "JSvviva." Margaret insisted on sending for the 
two captains of the foreign crafts, and gave them 
£1 3s. 4d. " for plaieing so merrielie my musique " 
— so the Queen phrased it. Another heavy item in 
the cost of her progress was her doctor's fee ; Maistre 
Francois of Nancy claimed £5 9s. 2d. for his pro- 
fessional services upon the journey. A further delay 
was caused in the completion of the nuptial arrange- 
ments by reason of the poverty of the Queen's ward 
robe. Her trousseau was quite unworthy of her 
rank, and Henry, although himself as poor as a 
King might be, despatched messengers to London 
to summon Margaret Chamberlayne, a famous tire- 
worker, and a number of craftswomen with sumptuous 
materials for the wedding gown. The King, indeed, 
had to pawn his own jewellery and plate to furnish 
sufficient funds for the double ceremony. 

Henry of England and Margaret of Anjou were 
married by Cardinal Beaufort in the abbey church 
of Titchfield on April 22. The bride was just 
sixteen years of age — already a woman, but with the 
heart of a man. Most extraordinary presents were 
showered upon the young Queen : a lion in a cage, 



274 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

a score of hedgehogs, a dozen thick all-wool blankets, 
two tuns of English wine, a suit of bronze silver 
armour, several chairs, — -two of state, — five young 
lambs' fleeces, and so forth. Then the royal progress 
began to the capital. Halfway between Fareham 
and London the Duke of Gloucester, with 500 armed 
and superbly mounted retainers, greeted the King 
and Queen, and conducted them to the palace at 
Greenwich. Triumphal arches spanned the road, 
and maidens scattered spring blossoms before the 
royal couple. 

On May 30 the King and Queen quitted Black- 
heath for Westminster, passing many notable pageant 
spectacles — " Noah's Ark," " Grace," " God's Chan- 
cellor," " St. Margaret," the " Heavenly Jerusalem," 
and so forth — all marshalled in their honour. Some- 
what wearied by the dust and the shaking of her 
chariot, and deafened by the plaudits of the crowds, 
Margaret was handed down by the King, at the 
great west door of the royal abbey. Her entry was 
accompanied by minstrelsy, for King Rene had 
sent over for the ceremonial a large company of the 
troubadours and glee maidens of Bar, Lorraine, and 
Provence, under the orders of his Groom of the 
Stole, Sire Jehan d'Escose. The cost of this expe- 
dition ran up to nearly £100, a great sum for the 
poor King of Sicily to disburse. 

King Henry spared no expense, but ran still more 
heavily into debt to make the crowning of his Queen 
magnificent. Rarely had such a gallant and splendid 
company gathered for a royal wedding. Everybody 
wore the Queen's badge — a red-tipped daisy. Three 
days were set apart for tournaments between Palace 
Yard and Broad Sanctuary, whereat the new Queen 



MARGUERITE D'ANJOU 275 

presided, wearing the Queen-consort's jewelled crown 
of England. 

Margaret was now de facto and de jure Queen of 
England and mistress of her destiny — her husband's, 
also. What a unique elevation it was for a young 
girl of sixteen, all alone among strangers, rivals, and 
adventurers ! A false step seemed inevitable ; indeed, 
absolute rectitude and tactfulness of conduct under 
the exigeant circumstances which surrounded her 
would have tried the grit of the stoutest mind and 
the grasp of the strongest hand. Dubbed " La 
Francaise" by men and women jealous of the King 
and of herself, she had to steer her course amid 
endless pitfalls placed in her way. Warfare and 
politics were the two chief contentions of the day. 
As for the first, she (Margaret) was its mascot, and 
warriors laid down their arms at her feet ; but with 
respect to the wordy warfare of parties and their 
intrigues and plots the young Queen danced upon 
the thinnest ice, and unconsciously she slipped. 
She gave herself into the hands, quite naturally, of 
the party which held first to the King and herself, 
as opposed to that which sought initially self-interest. 
The Duke of Gloucester was the leader of the loyal 
section of her lieges, and to him the young Queen 
turned for light and leading. 

Very soon the impress of Margaret's strong 
character made itself felt in every quarter. She 
spared neither the Duke of York himself, nor any 
other rival to her own Lord and King ; but what 
could a child still in her teens do against the cabals 
of crafty and influential foes ? Henry was as weak 
as water ; he hated political questions, caring very 
much more, of course, for peaceful intercourse with 



276 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

his fascinating spouse, and for the delights of leisure 
and learning, than for the turmoil of Parliament and 
the vexed questions of the day. York held Henry 
in his hand, but Margaret was a doughty nut to 
crack, and she kept him in his proper place. 

Letters written from Sheen and Windsor to 
Queen Isabelle by her loving daughter show how 
happy was her state. Henry's passionate love she 
returned as passionately, and their loves made for 
peace both at home and abroad. Literary pursuits 
and benevolent aims were in both their minds : the 
King founded Eton College, and King's College, 
Cambridge, in 1446 ; the Queen, Queen's College, 
Cambridge. Together they invited Italian, French, 
and Flemish craftsmen to settle in England, and teach 
their ignorant but not unwilling subjects some of the 
arts of peace. The poor were relieved, the naked 
clothed, the hungry fed ; but when all estates of the 
realm seemed secure and in prosperty, the dark spectre 
of sedition rose at the beck and call of the Duke 
of York. King Henry had to rouse himself and lay 
low the insurrection of Jack Cade and 30,000 
mislead Kentish men. This was the beginning of 
troubles. 

II. 

For some little time Margaret had detected signs 
in her consort's speech and manner that caused her the 
gravest solicitude. She had witnessed the mental de- 
pression and lassitude of her uncle, the King of France, 
and she had grieved for her beloved aunt's (Queen 
Marie's) anxieties. The insanity of King Charles VI., 
too, had been one of the sad family histories of her 
school days in Anjou. Now she was faced with a 



MARGUERITE D'ANJOU 277 

trouble far away more terrible than any of these. In 
1453 the King's memory began to fail, he was bereft 
of feeling, and gradually he lost his power of walking. 
The malady, indeed, had shown itself during the 
Christmas revels at Greenwich. The Queen was 
already broken-hearted by the news she received from 
France of the critical state of her mother's health, 
and when, on March 5, she heard of her death, poor 
Margaret was indeed disconsolate. In pain she 
turned to Henry for comfort, but he failed to com- 
prehend her sorrow. All around were men and 
women intriguing against herself and him ; alone she 
had to bear her trouble, and the trouble was intensified 
in pathos by the fact that she was at last enceinte. 
Would her child be stillborn, she asked herself many 
a time ; how could she expect otherwise when so 
utterly cast down ? Then she realized the loneliness 
of a throne. The menace of the Duke of York was 
a scourge to wear her down, and his denunciation of 
her barrenness an unspeakable affront. 

Crushed indeed she was, and yet she had to play 
the man ; for she was both King and Queen of 
England, and while she lived she determined that 
none should sap her authority. Henry subsided 
into imbecility, but Margaret's will matched and 
vanquished York's, although he was proclaimed 
" Protector of the Realm and Church." The year 
sped on, but it brought joy to the sad heart of the 
lonely Queen, and the whole nation shared her 
happiness. On October 1 1 she brought forth her 
first-born child, a son and heir, a fact of the vastest 
importance for all concerned, friend and foe. York 
at once denounced the child for a changeling ; but the 
nation would not have it so, and he was christened 



278 ren:£ d'anjou and his seven queens 

Edward publicly at Westminster, and created Prince 
of Wales, so named because his birthday was that of 
the holy King St. Edward. 

Alas ! the King could not be roused sufficiently 
to recognize his son, nor, indeed, his wife, and this 
was construed by York and his party as proof con- 
clusive against the truth of the Queen's accouche- 
ment. At the same time they threw out insinuations 
against her character with respect to relations with 
many prominent men of her entourage. 

The chivalrous spirit of the Queen felt York's 
false imputations crushingly. Her convalescence was 
retarded, and when she came to be churched at the 
Abbey of Westminster, she was almost too prostrate 
to go through the ceremony. Like the noble woman 
that she was, she roused herself ; and when she 
beheld the distinguished and numerous suite await- 
ing her, — the forty most influential peeresses in the 
land, — she took heart, and was herself once more. 
She assumed her costly churching robe. It was of 
white, gold-embroidered silk and was bordered with 
500 sable pelts, and it had cost £554 16s. 8d. 

The Duke's despicable conduct was flouted when 
Christmas next came round, for on the Feast of the 
Nativity the Queen presented herself holding her 
babe in her arms before the King. To her unspeak- 
able joy, Henry held out his hands and drew her and 
the infant Prince to his breast, and out loud thanked 
God for the recovery of his reason and acknowledged 
the child as his. York was away on mischief bent, 
and Margaret did not fail to make use of the oppor- 
tunity for checkmating his unworthy aspirations. 
She took the King to the Parliament, then sitting, 
and at his command and in his presence the decree 



MARGUERITE D'ANJOU 279 

appointing York Protector of the kingdom was 
revoked, and Henry, Margaret, and Edward, assumed 
their orthodox positions. This step was the first 
move in the great war game which devastated the 
whole realm, and ended, alas ! in the absolute undoing 
of the King, the Queen, and the Prince. York, 
hearing what had transpired at Westminster, hurried 
from the Welsh border with 5,000 armed followers. 
The King met him at St. Albans, and ordered him to 
disband his troop and salute the royal banner. The 
Duke refused to obey only on impossible conditions. 

But what of King Rene and Queen Isabelle ? 
Their hearts were torn asunder, we may be sure, at 
the contemplation of their Margaret's peril. They 
were powerless to assist her save by their whole 
soul's sympathy ; besides, they were faced by a con- 
trariety of facts. The all too brief " truce of Mar- 
garet " was broken in 1449, and Rene was summoned 
to support King Charles and fight against the 
servants of her consort, — her subjects too, — for, 
spite of being " La Franq,aise" she had won all hearts 
in bonnie England. A beautiful girl and a brave is 
unmatchable ! Fortune of war favoured the French- 
Anjou colours, and Charles became master of Nor- 
mandy and all English-held North France. Guienne, 
too, was yielded to the valiant young Duke of 
Calabria. Moreover, the war-galleys of " Le Petit Roy 
cle Bourges " scoured the Channel, and gained prizes 
and renown for Charles and Rene off the English 
coast. 

Somerset's defeat was a loss of credit, however, to 
Queen Margaret, and York of course made the most 
of it. He boasted that, " as Henry was fitter 
for a cell than a throne, and had transferred his 



280 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

authority to Margaret, the affairs of the kingdom 
could not be managed by a Frenchwoman, who cared 
only for her own power and profit." To placate this 
arrogance the Queen made a tactless move : she 
named the Duke Governor of Ireland, thus adding to 
his prestige and opportunity. Talbot's death at 
Albany further weakened the King's authority and 
Margaret's strategy. 

Upon the death of Queen Isabelle, so deeply 
mourned, not alone by her daughter in England, but 
by all the chivalry of France, Rene devolved his 
authority in Bar and Lorraine upon Jean, Duke of 
Calabria, intending to withdraw gradually from the 
responsibilities of government. His efforts, however, 
were discounted by the entreaties of Francesco 
Sforza, Duke of Milan, and his Florentine allies, that 
he should again take up arms and appear in the field 
against King Alfonso of Aragon and the Venetians 
who were supporting him. Rene was victorious, but 
the palm of triumph was withered in his hand by the 
news that reached him on his way back to France : 
civil war had broken out in England, and Margaret 
was in command of the Lancastrians. Margaret, so 
lovely, so cultivated, and so fearless, was adding 
lustre to the heroic deeds of the House of Anjou — but 
what terrible risks she ran ! The initial victory at 
Wakefield was tarnished by the irony of circum- 
stances, and, though decreed by her in the moment of 
her emphatic triumph, York's grey head speared upon 
the walls of York must have shocked her sense of 
magnanimity. 

Margaret led her troops in person, — they wor- 
shipped the ground she trod, — but her splendid 
courage was of no avail at the second battle of 




>uote(*fecuem 2c<jwcf fawcffc M 
moiti/ficiHCHf ^ftiwc pCiufamc fmct 

KING RENE WRITING HIS POEM, " LE MORTEFIEMENT DE VAINE PLAISANCE " 
From the Frontispiece painted by King Rene 

To face page 280 



MARGUERITE DANJOU 281 

St. Albans. Henry was deposed, and York's eldest 
son, the Earl of March, was proclaimed King as 
Edward IV. Margaret never accepted defeat ; she 
quailed not, but off she went with her little sod, who 
was never parted from her side, to Yorkshire and the 
North. 

" Love Lady-Day " was the quaint if somewhat 
hypocritical name bestowed by general consent upon 
March 2 5, 1458. On that auspicious Lady-Day a 
very notable assemblage gathered together at the 
Palace of Westminster. The Queen had personally 
summoned the leaders of the rival factions to meet 
the King and accompany him and herself in proces- 
sion to St. Paul's, to crave from on high the spirit 
of conciliation. The streets were crowded with loyal 
and appreciative citizens, whose delight knew no 
bounds as they witnessed pass before them the King 
in his crown, his horse's bridle held by a " White 
Rose " knight and a " Red." Then followed the 
Queen in a litter, escorted by the new Duke of York, 
Somerset hand in hand with Salisbury, Essex with 
Warwick, and others in order of precedence. No 
man was armed, no woman feared, and joy-bells tossed 
themselves over and over again, swung by stalwart 
ringers. Te Deum was sung, but as the progress 
turned westward rumblings of thunder made wise- 
acres shake their heads, — and in sooth they had good 
cause, as matters chanced, — at the dire omen. 

Warwick was the bSte noire of the reconciliation. 
By instinct and preference a plotter-royal, he incurred 
the Queen's suspicion by a sj^stem of sea-piracy he 
established, and because of inconsiderate language 
about the elder line of Plantagenet. An unfortunate 
street fracas led to Warwick's imprisonment. He 



282 rene d'anjou and his seven queens 

was too proud to plead guilty, the Queen too jealous 
to release him. York and Salisbury at once enrolled 
their retainers, and stood ready to deliver Warwick. 
The fruits of the reconciliation fell instantly to the 
ground, and the complement of " Love Lady-Day " 
was renunciation and conflict <% V outrance. Before 
the fresh outbreak of hostilities, whilst the King 
retired for rest and quietude to St. Albans Abbey, 
the Queen, accompanied by the baby Prince, made a 
progress through the Midlands. The child's winning- 
ways touched every heart, and when he distributed 
to struggling hands everywhere the cognizance of his 
patron saint, St. Edward, — little silver swans,— 
everybody swore to be his henchman and to stand by 
Henry and Margaret. Salisbury hung upon the 
skirts of the Queen's cortege, and Margaret inquired 
his business. His curt reply determined her to 
demand his body, alive or dead. At Bloreheath 
adherents of both sides met, and then Margaret had 
her baptism of blood ; her own was tinged with 
warriors' strains from Charlemagne of old, and in her 
veins the old lion sprang up phoenix -like. Margaret 
saw red. She offered two courses only to her 
rebellious and disaffected subjects, submission or 
death — no quarter. Alas ! her experience was the 
common one, the faithlessness of friends. 

The Battle of Northampton, on July 10, 1460, 
was lost by the treachery of Lord Grey de Ruthen. 
The Queen and Prince were posted upon an eminence 
to view the fight, and her military instinct detected 
the base defection whereby Warwick was enabled to 
take the King's army in the rear. Henry was 
captured before her eyes, and Margaret, powerless 
to retrieve the disaster, fled with her boy at once to 



MARGUERITE D'ANJOU 283 

the North. By a circuitous route they reached the 
impregnable walls of Harlech Castle. Henry was 
led in mock triumph to the Tower, whence Warwick 
had the effrontery to demand the custody of the 
persons of the Queen and Prince. Margaret 
expressed her indignation at the insult emphatically, 
but, waiting not to bandy useless words, she hurried 
off to Scotland to seek sympathy and assistance. 
Meanwhile the Duke of York formally claimed the 
crown. Margaret's response was impressive. With- 
out difficulty she roused Scottish enthusiasm, — 
generally so slow to move, — and, sweeping across the 
border, she gathered in her train an army of 60,000 
men, and appeared before the gates of York. There 
she called a plenary council of lords, to whom she 
expressed her determination " to rest not till I have 
entered London and set free the King." 

York, taken by surprise, hastened to meet the 
valiant Queen, and found her encamped at Wakefield. 
Warned of his approach, she sent heralds to his 
quarters, who in her name defied the Duke " to 
meet her in honest, open fight." He held back, and 
then she poured the vials of her scorn upon his head : 
" Doth want of courage," she exclaimed, " allow thee 
to be browbeaten by a woman — fie on thee, thou 
traitor!" The battle was joined on December 30, 
and gained in less than half an hour. A troop of 
horse, headed by young Lord Clifford, — and followed 
immediately by the Queen, mounted and armed, — 
made an impetuous dash to where the Duke's 
standard hung heavy in the still, damp air. It they 
captured, and forthwith threw it over Margaret's 
knees, and with his sword Clifford struck the rebel 
leader down from his horse, and slew him as he lay 



284 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

at Margaret's feet. In a trice he had severed the 
head of her mortal enemy, and upon his knee he 
offered the ghastly trophy to his Queen. " Madam," 
he said, " the war is over ; here is the King's 
ransom !" The Queen turned sick at the terrible 
sight, and hysterically sobbed and laughed alternately, 
and she screamed aloud when soldiers stuffed the 
blood-dripping head into a common chaff- sack. Lord 
Clifford she knighted on the spot, using his own 
gory sword ; then she ordered York's head to be 
carried off to York, and placed on the city's southern 
gateway. 

Salisbury was also hors de combat, wounded and 
a prisoner, and by the Queen's orders he was beheaded 
on the field of battle, — for he would not yield his 
sword and word, — and his head was placed by the side 
of his leader's. In a moment, too, of justifiable 
vengeance, the Queen directed that space should be 
left on that carrion portal for two other traitors' 
heads — Warwick's and March's. " There," she said, 
" they all four shall dangle till the rain and the sun 
and the birds have consumed them — warnings to all 
and sundry who shall hereafter raise voice and hand 
against their liege." 

Margaret pushed south, and at St. Albans, on 
February 17, met Warwick, with the King in his 
camp. The issue was soon decided ; 2,000 Yorkists 
were slain, and Henry and Margaret were united 
once more. Lord Montague discovered him alone 
seated under a tree. Clifford galloped off to the 
Queen to tell her the good news, and, bereft of kirtle 
and veil and every sign of royalty, she rushed as she 
was to where the King was awaiting her. He bade 
her kneel before he embraced her, and gave her 



MARGUERITE DANJOU 285 

then and there the knightly accolade, as well as to 
his son, who had run as hard as he could after his 
mother, and he also knighted sixty worthy, loyal 
gentlemen. All entered the abbey church for Te Deum 
and Benediction, and then the royal pair sought the 
monastery for rest and food. Leaving Henry at his 
devotions, and the Prince to cheer him, Margaret 
again mounted her charger and marched straight on 
London, where York's eldest son, Edward, Earl of 
March, a lad of eighteen, had been proclaimed King 
as Edward IV. Perhaps over-confident, and at all 
events uncompromising in her intention to punish 
the disloyal and rebel citizens, she failed to post her 
army advantageously, although she had 60,000 men 
against Warwick's 40,000. At Towton the fates 
were once more against her, and she, with the King 
and the Prince, fled for their lives to Newcastle, and 
over the border to the friendly Court of the Queen 
Regent, Margaret. Henry was established in royal 
state at Kirkcudbright, and the Queen and Prince at 
Dunfermline, and there the little fellow, just eight 
years of age, was betrothed to the young King's 
sister, Margaret. 

Margaret was really happy "in her new home, and, 
resourceful as she was and never cast down, she 
turned her attention to peaceful pursuits, and in par- 
ticular interested herself in the local industry of 
wool-weaving. She had seen her father's and her 
mother's interest, in her happy days in Lorraine and 
Anjou, in the craftsmen and crafts worn en about 
them, and her own skilful fingers had busied them- 
selves in homely, peaceful avocations. Margaret 
endeared herself to her Fifeshire friends, as she 
usually did to all who were fortunate enough to be 



286 RENE D^NJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

thrown into contact with her, and they sang of 

her : 

" God bless Margaret of Anjou, 
For she taught Dunfermline how to sew." 

It was said, too, of Margaret, that " if she had 
not been destined to play the role of Bellona, she 
would have glorified that of Minerva." The Earl of 
March, — to whom she never allowed the style of 
Edward IV., — was wont to repeat his quaint joke : 
" Margaret is more to be feared when a fugitive 
than all the leaders of Lancaster put together !" 

On April 16, 1462, Queen Margaret bade adieu to 
her consort at Kirkcudbright, and with her son and 
suite, in four well-found Scottish galleys, set sail for 
France. She landed at Ecluse in Brittany, after 
more perils on the sea, and was cordially welcomed 
by Duke Francis, who gave her 12,000 livres. 
Thence she made straight to Chinon, — of happy 
memories, — to interview King Louis, who had just 
been crowned at Reims, upon the death of his father, 
Charles VII. There she was folded in the loving 
arms of her dear aunt, Queen Marie ; and what a 
meeting that was for both royal ladies ! They had 
not seen each other since that auspicious wedding- 
day sixteen years before. Then they were both in 
the heyday of prosperity ; now both were crushed by 
Providence — Marie flouted by her ill-conditioned, 
jealous daughter-in-law, Charlotte de Savoy, now 
Queen-consort of France, and Margaret a fugitive ! 

Louis played a double game — a cruel one indeed, 
and insincere so far as Margaret was concerned. He 
spoke to her fairly, but his mind was with the usurp- 
ing King of England. Under one pretext or another 
he delayed his reply to her plea for assistance, but at 



MARGUERITE D'ANJOU 287 

length, in desperation, Margaret pledged Jersey with 
him for 2,000 French bowmen. King Rene was in 
Provence, but, taking a hint from Louis that his 
presence would be undesirable just then in Anjou, he 
sent for his daughter to join him at Aix. This was 
impossible ; for Margaret time was all too valuable, 
and she set sail for Scotland on October 10. With 
her went a few single-hearted knights, but of all the 
hosts of admirers and loyal followers of sixteen years 
before, only one of mark wore his badge of chivalry 
consistently — the gallant and accomplished Pierre de 
Brez6, a preux chevalier indeed, the forerunner of 
Bayart, and like him " sans peur et sans reproche." 

Again the elements were not only unpropitious, 
but malevolent. Escaping the vigilance of Edward's 
cruisers, and the rebel guns of Tynemouth, basely 
trained upon their Queen, her ships were wrecked 
on Holy Island. There 500 of her troops were 
massacred, and Margaret and de Breze, and a very 
meagre following, put to sea in a fisherman's open 
boat which landed them on Bamborough sands. The 
banner of Henry of Lancaster, once more raised 
aloft by Margaret, magnet - like drew all the 
northern counties, and in spite of Somerset's deser- 
tion the Queen soon found herself at the head of 
a formidable army, with the King beside her and the 
Prince. Once more at Hexham fickle fortune failed 
the intrepid Queen. Henry was again a captive, but 
Margaret and Edward made good their escape over 
the Scottish border. 

How often, when human affairs appear most 
desperate, and all hope and effort are thrown away, 
help comes from some unexpected quarter ! So it 
was in Queen Margaret's experience. There is a 

19 



288 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

romantic tale with respect to her flight from Hex- 
ham's stricken field — the story of the robber. 
Whether one or more outlaws waylaid and robbed 
the fugitives it matters not, but, stripped of every- 
thing but the clothes they wore, Queen and Prince 
were in dismal straits. Wonder of wonders ! a 
messenger followed Margaret from no less a person 
than the Duke of Burgundy, the inveterate enemy 
of her house, the friend and ally of the English in 
France. The message was in effect an invitation to 
the Queen and Prince to Flanders — the splendid 
appanage of ducal Burgundy. Margaret's implacable 
foes, — the winds and seas, — were waiting for their 
prey, and nearly secured their quarry as she tossed 
to and fro across the wild North Sea on her way to 
meet Philippe. Landing on the Flemish coast on 
July 31, — when storm and tempest should never 
have appeared, — with utmost difficulty, the Queen 
presented a sorry figure. No badge or symbol of 
royalty marked her worn-out figure ; she was clad 
meanly in a coarse short worsted skirt — robette — 
without chemise or shawl, her stockings low down on 
her heels, her hair dishevelled and unveiled. Who 
could have recognized in that chastened traveller 
" the loveliest woman in Christendom "? 

True to his loyal devotion, Sieur Pierre de Breze 
was with his Queen poor as herself, he had, he 
said, " spent 50,000 crowns for nothing" — and a 
faithful valet, Louis Carbonelle, and no more than 
seven women-dresses. At once the Duke was 
apprised of Margaret's coming ; but, being on a 
pilgrimage to Our Lady of Boulogne, he sent his 
apologies by Philippe Pot, Seigneur de la Boche 
and a Knight of the Golden Fleece, bidding the 



MARGUERITE D'ANJOU 289 

Queen welcome, and saying that he would present 
his homage to her shortly if she would proceed direct 
to Bruges. 

That progress was a nightmare, an " Inferno," a 
masquerade — what you will : the Queen of England 
clad in rags, her hair untired, seated in a common 
country bullock-cart, drawn by a pair of sorry steeds, 
mocked all the way along as " Une Merrie Moll" 
" Une Naufragee /" " Une Sorciere de Vent /" The 
Comte de Charolois, heir to the duchy, met her 
Majesty at the digue, saluted her with all reverence, 
and conducted her to the Castle of St. Pol. On the 
morrow the Duke of Burgundy arrived, and at once 
went to the Queen's lodgings to pay his homage. 
Right in the middle of the street, where Margaret 
stood to greet him, with a courtly bow he swept the 
ground with the drooping plume of his berretta, 
whilst the Queen curtsied in her abbreviated gown 
twice majestically. Never was there a finer piece of 
royal burlesque enacted! 

Margaret caught the Duke by the arm as he was 
about to give the kiss of etiquette. " Thanks, my 
cousin," she said ; " now I am, perhaps, in no fit 
mind for compliments. I seek your aid for Henry 
and our son, and I beseech you, by the love of Our 
Lady, not to credit the abominable tales which have 
been circulated touching me." The Duke did not 
commit himself, but generously gave his " sweet 
cousin" 2,000 golden crowns, — wherewith "to fit 
your Majesty with proper raiment," he said, — and a 
fine diamond to wear for him. The next day the 
Duchess of Bourbon, Philippe's sister, visited Queen 
Margaret, and in her she found a sincere and 
sympathizing confidante. She set before the Duchess 



290 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

all the sad facts of her impoverished condition, and 
told her all about the hardships she and her spouse 
and son had met with in England. " We were 
reduced," she said, " on one occasion to one herring 
among three, and not more bread than would suffice 
for five days' nourishment." She went on to say 
that once at Mass, at Dunfermline, she had no coin 
for the offertory, and she asked an archer of the 
King of Scotland, kneeling near her, for a farthing, 
which he most reluctantly gave her. 

" Alas !" replied the weeping Duchess, " no Queen 
save your Majesty has been so hardly dealt with by 
Providence ; but now we must offer you, sweet cousin, 
some consolation for your sufferings." One more 
affecting speech of the heroic Queen must be recorded. 
" When on the day of my espousal," she said, " I 
gathered the rose of England, I was quite well aware 
that I should have to wear it whole with all its 
thorns !" 

The Duchess, true to her word, organized splendid 
fetes at the Castle of St. Pol in honour of the royal 
refugees, and Margaret, now attired as became her 
lofty station, put on one side her cruel anxieties, and 
yielded herself to the pleasures and humours of the 
festivities. They put her in mind of the gay tourna- 
ments in her happy home — the Court of her good 
father, King Rene. 

Henry was all the while a prisoner in the Tower, 
and Margaret's tender heart bled on his account. 
She for the moment was without resources, and she 
had to bide her time. She knew that that time would 
come, and never for a moment did she lend herself to 
unprofitable despair. The Duke stood by her, a friend 
in need, and bestowed both money and an escort upon 



MARGUERITE D'ANJOU 291 

his royal visitor. In the spring of 1463 she and the 
Prince were welcomed in Bar-le-Duc by King Rene 
and his Court, though it cost Margaret a pang to see 
her one-time Maid of Honour, Jehanne de Laval, in 
her dear mother's place. 

Six months passed all too swiftly under the hos- 
pitable roofs of her brother Jean, Duke of Calabria, 
and now actual Duke of Lorraine as well, and of 
her sister Yolande, Countess of Vaudemont. Then 
widowed Queen Marie sent an urgent summons for 
her favourite niece to pay her a visit at Amboise in 
Touraine, and there most happily Margaret forgot her 
troubles, and looked more hopefully than ever to the 
future. 

King Rene's affairs were in hopeless confusion, and 
his interests and resources were drained by his son's 
campaign in Italy. He could offer nothing but a 
loving father's whole-hearted love and protection to his 
unfortunate daughter and his little grandson, the 
pride and joy of his life. He breathed out his deep 
feelings in two elegant canticles eloquent of Mar- 
garet's woes. His example set all the poets singing 
sweetly of the Lancastrian Queen ; her beauty and 
her accomplishments, her troubles and her fortitude, 
appealed to them mightily. They sought, too, to 
cheer the riven soul of their liege lord and poet leader : 

" Eouse thee, King Rene ! rouse thee, good Rene ! 
Let not sorrow all thy spirits beguile. 
Thy dear daughter, brave spouse of King Henry, 
Tho' sadly she wept still she coaxes a smile." 

All that Rene was able to do for his royal daughter 
was to establish her and her son at his castle of 
Kuerere, near St. Mihil's by Verdun in Lorraine, 
with 2,000 livres to carry on the education of the 



292 REN^ D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

Prince. Sir John Fortescue, a soldier of fortune, 
was appointed his tutor. He was a devoted adherent 
of the Red Rose. " We are," he wrote, " reduced to 
great poverty, and the Queen with difficulty sus- 
taineth us in meat and drink." 

Louis XL, who had refused to have anything to do 
with his unfortunate cousin, Queen Margaret, at last 
agreed to meet her at Tours in December, 1469, and 
with her he invited King Rene ; Jean, Duke of 
Calabria and Lorraine ; and her sister Yolande, with 
her husband, Ferri, Count of Vaudemont, " to con- 
sider," as he put it, " what may or may not be done." 
Louis treated Margaret with scant ceremony. Whilst 
discussions were going on, startling news came from 
England which very much altered the situation. The 
North and Midlands had again risen against Edward, 
and Warwick had gone over to the Lancastrians. 
Edward was a prisoner at Middleham Castle, and 
Warwick was virtually King of England ! The 
diversion was, however, of short duration, for in a 
few weeks Edward managed to escape. And now it 
was Warwick's turn to fly. He sought the French 
Court, and confided in Louis, who, sinister and 
scheming as he was always, saw a way to help 
Margaret and still be on the winning side. The 
King proposed an interview between the Queen and 
the Earl, with a view to a reconciliation. Margaret 
rejected indignantly the proposal. " The Earl of 
Warwick," she exclaimed, " has pierced my heart 
with wounds that can never be healed. They will 
bleed till the Day of Judgment. He hath done 
things which I can never forgive." 

The King was, however, determined that his idea 
of a rapprochement between the Lancastrians and 




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^ a 



B -Sm 



MARGUERITE D'ANJOU 293 

the wing of the Yorkists who looked to Warwick for 
light and leading should be realized, and he urged his 
view so emphatically upon Margaret that at last she 
agreed to meet Warwick, but upon one condition : 
that " he shall unsay before your Majesty and the 
King of Sicily, my father, all that he has foully 
uttered about me and the Prince, and shall swear to 
repeat the same at Paul's Cross in London later." 

Warwick, to the amazement of Louis, agreed to this 
condition, and forthwith presented himself most 
humbly to the Queen upon his knees. Swordless, 
gloveless, and uncovered, he sought pardon for his 
evil conduct, and prayed her to accept him as her true 
henchman and devoted lieutenant. Margaret seemed 
stunned by this extraordinary volte-face, and kept the 
Earl upon his knees quite a long time before she 
vouchsafed a reply. At last she extended her hand 
for him to kiss, and he, further, servilely kissed the fur 
hem of her robe. Then he laid his plans before the 
august company for releasing the King and placing 
him once more upon his throne. He next called on 
King Louis and King Rene to stand surety for the 
performance of his purpose. He said he could com- 
mand immediately 50,000 men to fight under his 
orders, and he craved the presence of the Queen in 
the saddle by his side. 

With Warwick was the Earl of Oxford and other 
leaders of his party, who all knelt in homage to the 
Queen and craved her clemency. To Oxford she at 
once extended her hand. " Your pardon, my lord," 
she said, " is right easy. What wrongs you have done 
me are cancelled by what you have borne for King 
Henry." The conference at Tours was adjourned, 
and resumed at the Castle of Angers ; and then 



294 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

Louis had another startling proposition to lay before 
Queen Margaret : no less than the betrothal of Prince 
Edward, — now a well-grown and handsome lad of 
seventeen, — to the Earl of Warwick's daughter 
Anne ! Margaret flared up at once. " Impossible S" 
she said. " What ! will he indeed give his daughter 
to my royal son, whom he has so often branded as 
the offspring of adultery or fraud ! By God's name, 
that can never be !" 

For a whole fortnight Margaret stood her ground. 
She could not agree to this extraordinary proposal ; 
but then the peaceful, fatherly insistence of Rene 
caused her to relent, but not before she roundly rated 
her good sire for his pusillanimity and too ready 
credence. Meanwhile the Countess of Warwick and 
her daughter had arrived at Amboise, and had been 
most ostentatiously received by King Louis. Then 
happened, by happy coincidence, an event vastly 
important to the King of France — the birth of an 
heir. Queen Charlotte was delivered of a son, the 
future Charles VIII., on June 30. Nothing would 
content the King but Prince Edward and Anne 
Neville must be among the child's sponsors. At the 
same time, to influence Queen Margaret, Warwick, at 
Louis's suggestion, made a solemn asseveration in the 
cathedral church of Angers : " Upon this fragment of 
the True Cross I promise to be true to King Henry VI. 
of England ; to Queen Margaret, his spouse ; and to 
the Prince of Wales, his true and only son ; and to go 
back at once to England, raise 50,000 men, and 
restore the King to his honours." Louis gave him 
46,000 gold crowns and 2,000 French archers, and at 
the same time asked Queen Margaret to accept the 
charge of his young daughter Anne whilst he was 
away. 



MARGUERITE DANJOU 295 

Margaret could not stand out any longer, and so, 
immediately after the baptismal ceremony, — where 
she herself held her little royal nephew,- at the font, 
— Edward, Prince of Wales, and Anne Neville were 
betrothed with gorgeous ceremonial in the Chapel of 
St. Florentin, within the Castle of Amboise, in the 
presence of nearly all the Sovereigns of France and 
their Courts. 

" The Prince," so said the chroniclers, " is one of the 
handsomest and most accomplished Princes in Europe, 
tall, fair like his mother, and with her soft voice and 
courteous carriage, was well pleased with his pretty 
and sprightly fiancee." People sought to belittle the 
match, and called it a mesalliance; but the bride's 
great-grandmother was Joanna Beaufort, daughter 
of Prince John of Ghent, Edward III.'s third son. 
She married the Earl of Westmoreland. In Queen 
Margaret's estimation, what certainly did weigh 
very considerably was the fact that her daughter-in- 
law-to-be was one of the wealthiest heiresses in 
England. The august company went on to Angers 
after the double ceremony, at the desire of Queen 
Margaret, who insisted that a Prince of Wales could 
only be married in his ancestral dominions. She 
cited the intention of King Rene to leave to her and 
her heirs the duchy of Anjou, and so she claimed 
it as already English territory. Louis acceded to 
her whim. He could afford to wait and watch the 
course of events. The marriage of Prince Edward 
and the Lady Anne was consequently solemnized, on 
August 15, in the Cathedral of St. Maurice, which 
had witnessed so many royal functions. 

The Earl of Warwick, accompanied by the Duke 
of Clarence, grandson of King Henry IV., departed 



296 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

immediately for England, to make good his brave 
words and prove his loyalty. His proclamation in 
favour of Henry, Margaret, and Edward, produced 
an immense sensation, and in a couple of days he 
found himself in command of 70,000 men, all crying, 
" A Henry ! A Henry !" Edward IV. immediately 
left the capital and sought the friendly shores of 
Holland, and Warwick was, without a blow being 
struck, master of the kingdom. His first step was 
to send the Bishop of Winchester to the Tower, to 
clothe King Henry in regal robes, and conduct him 
with the Sovereign's escort to the Palace of West- 
minster. On October 1 3 the King went to St. Paul's, 
wearing once more his crown. Louis ordered Te 
Deum to be sung in every church in France, and 
went in person to the Castle of Saumur to salute 
Queen Margaret. Early in November the Queen, 
with the Prince and Princess of Wales and a very 
distinguished following, set out for Paris, on their 
way to London. Every town through which the 
royal cortege passed was gaily decorated, and the 
hearty plaudits of the thronging inhabitants were 
mingled with the joy peals of all the bells. 

Harfleur once more was fixed upon as the port 
of passage, and once more the Channel churned and 
a tempest fell upon the royal flotilla. Nobody has 
been able to explain why Margaret of England was 
so persistently persecuted by the divinities of the 
weather. Twice they put back to port, and then, 
after tossing about for sixteen whole days and nights, 
they made Weymouth, — a passage ordinarily of no 
more than as many hours, — and landed on April 13. 
That day was indeed ill-omened for the cause Queen 
Margaret had at heart, and for which she had suffered 



MARGUERITE D^NJOU 297 

such appalling vicissitudes. The Battle of Barnet 
was fought and lost ; Warwick was killed, and King 
Henry was again a prisoner. Verily, Queen Mar- 
garet's star was a blaze of disasters ! 

The terrible news staggered the courageous Queen ; 
she swooned, but soon recovered her usual equanimity, 
although out of the bitterness of her soul she sobbed : 
" Better die right out, methinks, than exist so in- 
securely !" She appeared to have no plan of action, 
for such a disaster seemed to be impossible ; so, to 
gain time for thought and effort, she moved herself 
and those she loved into the safe sanctuary of Beaulieu 
Abbey. There Somerset and many other notable 
fugitives forgathered. To them she counselled retreat 
— " Till Providence," she said, " ordereth better luck." 
The Prince now for the first time asserted himself, 
and, with his mother's daring, gave an emphatic " No." 
At Bath a goodly array of soldiers rallied to the 
royal standard, and Margaret determined to cross the 
Severn and join her forces to Jasper Tudor 's army 
of sturdy loyal Welshmen. The Duke of Gloucester 
opposed her advance, and so she turned aside to 
Tewkesbury, and there encamped. 

The morrow (May 4, 1471) was to be the darkest 
in all the chequered career of Margaret of Anjou 
and England. Sweet Pentecost though it was, the 
spirit of comfort belied, failed the fated Queen once 
more. With early dawn fell aslant the springtide 
sunbeams a rain of feathered hail. Battle was joined, 
each man at his post — save one, the perjured Lord 
Wenlock. His command, in the centre of Queen 
Margaret's forces, lacked its leader, and Somerset 
rode off to find him. At a low brothel he discovered 
the miscreant drinking with and fondling loose 



298 REN^ D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

wenches. " Traitor !" cried the Duke ; " die, thou 
scoundrel !" And he clove his head in two. This 
defection caused irretrievable disaster ; still, the 
Prince of Wales did prodigies of valour, and so did 
many more ; but he was felled from his horse, and 
the " Hope of England " was lead captive to 
victorious Edward's tent. Received with every 
mark of discourtesy, the heart of the chivalrous 
young Prince must have quailed as he stood before 
the arch-enemy of his house, but he had very little 
time for reflection. 

" How durst thou, changeling, presumptuously 
enter my dominions with banners displayed against 
me ?" demanded Edward. 

" To recover my father's crown, the heritage of 
my ancestors," bravely replied the Prince. 

" Speakest thou thus to me, thou upstart ! See, 
I smite thee on thy bastard mouth !" roughly ex- 
claimed the conqueror, and with that he demeaned 
himself and the crown he fought for by cowardly 
and savagely striking with his mailed fist the unsus- 
pecting and unarmed Prince. This treacherous blow 
was the signal to the titled scoundrels standing by 
for a murderous attack upon the Prince of Wales. 
He fell crying fearlessly : " A Henry ! A Henry !" 
pierced by many daggers. It was a dark deed and 
dastardly ; its stain no course of years will ever cleanse, 
and Edward IV. is for all time " Bloody Edward." 

Queen Margaret, seeing the hopelessness of the 
conflict, and fearing the worst had happened to the 
Prince, — for he never came to cheer her, — took the 
Princess and fled to a convent hard by the battle- 
field, and there lay concealed. Edward, yielding to 
the base instincts of a cruel nature, very soon got 



MARGUERITE DANJOU 299 

news of Margaret's hiding-place, and with a demoni- 
acal scowl, " Ah, ah !" he cried out, " we've settled 
the cub ; now for the she- wolf !" 

The Queen was dragged from her hiding-place, 
and borne to Edward's quarters, where, like the 
brute he was, he reviled and insulted her. 

" Slay me, thou bloodthirsty wretch, if thou wilt ! 
I care not for death at thy desecrating hands ! May 
God strike thee, as He will !" she exclaimed. 

Margaret was sent to the Tower, but not to her 
husband ; they were kept apart, and the Princess of 
Wales was delivered over to the care of her uncle, the 
Archbishop of York. But even so Edward's malice 
was not exhausted. The Queen was conducted with- 
out honour, or even decency, in the suite of Edward 
on his return to the capital. At Coventry, — of all 
places for further outrage, a place so greatly agree- 
able to Henry and herself, — ill-fated Margaret was 
subjected to personal insults from her vanquisher. 
In reply she reviled him, and thrust him with abhor- 
rence from her. In revenge he ordered her to be 
fastened upon a common sumpter horse, and he 
ordered a placard to be placed on her breast, 
" This is Queen Margaret, good lieges," and her 
hands were tied behind her back. Thus was the 
most valiant, most unselfish, and most loyal Queen 
that England ever had led to grace the mock 
triumph of a royal murderer. She was thrust into 
the foulest dungeon of the grim Tower, and there 
remained, bereft of food, of service, and wellnigh of 
reason, too, for seven dreary, weary months. 

The day after her incarceration King Henry's 
dead body was discovered in his cell. Gloucester, 
it was said, had killed him ; but Edward was, if 



300 RENE D'ANJOU and his seven queens 

not the actual murderer, privy to the deed. Queen 
Margaret, hearing in her dark, foul den the heavy 
tramp of men-at-arms, scrambled up to the bars 
of her little window, and beheld, — what probably 
Edward meant she should, — the corpse of her slaugh- 
tered husband borne past for burial. No ceremony 
of any kind accompanied that mournful passing. At 
St. Paul's, Henry's body was exposed in a chapel 
of the crypt, and then it found merciful sepulture in 
the God's-acre at Chertsey Abbey. 

That her beloved son, — her one and only hope, — 
was dead as well, heart-broken Margaret gathered 
amid ribald blasphemies of the intoxicated soldiery as 
she was borne to London in that " Triumph." Now 
was she bereft indeed, and nothing seemed so desir- 
able as death ; indeed, she resigned herself, and pre- 
pared herself for execution at any moment, at any 
savage hint of her consort's supplanter on England's 
throne — accursed Edward ! It was, however, not to 
be supposed that King Louis of France or King 
Rene of Sicily- Anjou should silently condone the 
unhalting cruelty of a bloodthirsty monarch, especially 
wiien the person and the honour of a French Princess 
were at stake. 

III. 

Efforts were made, more or less feeble, for the 
delivery of the incarcerated Queen by Louis, — fearful 
of offence to the Yorkist King, — and by Rene, who 
had no resources with which to back up his appeal. 
Anyhow, Margaret was, at the Christmas following 
the fatal battle, released from durance vile, and con- 
signed to the care of the Duchess-Dowager of 
Somerset, — one of her earliest friends, — and went to 



MARGUERITE D'ANJOU 301 

live under her wing at Wallingford. Edward made 
her the beggarly grant of 5 marks weekly for the 
support of herself and two maid-servants ! There 
Margaret remained for five years, each one more 
intolerable than its predecessor. 

At the Peace of Picquigny, August 29, 1475, 
between Louis and Edward, the latter agreed to 
accept a ransom of 50,000 gold crowns for the 
widowed Queen. This compact was not an act of 
grace on the part of Louis so much as a quid pro 
quo. He insisted upon Rene ceding Provence to the 
crown of France, upon his death, by way of payment 
of the ransom. Still, in this matter Edward was as 
good as his bond, and directly the first instalment of 
the amount was paid in London to John Howard, 
Edward's Treasurer, Margaret was conducted to Sand- 
wich, not without indignity, and placed upon a 
common fishing-boat. Landing at Dieppe, January 
14, 1476, she was taken on to Rouen, where she 
received the following affecting letter from her 
sorrowing father, King Rene : 

" Ma fille, que Dieu vous assiste dans vos conseils, 
car cest rarement des hommes qu'il faut en attendre 
dans les revers de fortune. Lorsque vous de'sirierez 
moins ressentir vos peines, pensez aux miennes ; elles 
sont grandes, majille, et pourtant je vous console."* 

True enough, the troubles and reverses of King 
Rene were more than fall to the lot of most men of 
high culture and degree ; but what of Queen Margaret's 

* " My child, may God assist thee in thy counsels, for rarely do 
men render help in times of fortune's reverses. When you desire 
to resent your trials the least, think of mine ; they are great, my 
child, and therefore I wish to console you." 



302 RENE D 1 ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

shipwreck ? For nearly thirty years she had endured 
experiences which had tried no other Queen half so 
hardly ; and all the while she had set a unique 
example of devotion, loyalty, courage, and endurance, 
unexampled in history. There never was a truer 
wife, a more self-sacrificing mother, a more intrepid 
and a nobler Queen, than Margaret of Anjou. 

From Rouen the Queen sent a message to King 
Louis, desiring to see him ; but he, knowing well her 
desperate case, and seeing no likelihood of profit 
accruing to himself, coward-like, evaded an interview. 
His miserable aunt might forage for herself, for all 
he cared, and go where she listed, but not to Paris 
nor Amboise. With bent head and slow feet, the 
great heroine of the Wars of the Roses, broken like 
a pitcher at a fountain, took her lonely way no more 
in gallant cavalcade, but almost in funereal cortege, 
to Anjou and Angers — the cradle of her race. 

At Reculee father and daughter once more 
embraced each other. Alas, what a sorrowful meet- 
ing that was, and how mixed their feelings ! 
Margaret's filial duty conquered the reproaches she 
had prepared, and Rene's tears and silence spoke 
more loudly than words of regret could do. Provi- 
dence had been cruel to them both. Rene loved 
Reculee for its peace and solitude, and there Margaret 
should repose awhile and recover mind and body. 
No prettier resort was there in all Anjou than the 
Maison de Reculee — " Reculee " Rene named it, a 
place of " recoil " from the buffe tings of fate. He 
had purchased the estate, in 1465, from one Colin, an 
Angers butcher, for 300 ecus d'or, and had greatly 
enjoyed laying out the estate and erecting a bijou 
residence. His paintings and his sculptures, his 



MARGUERITE D'ANJOU 303 

books, his music scores, his miniatures, and all his 
artistic hobbies, he lavished there for himself and fair 
Queen Jehanne. They often dropped down the 
Maine in a pleasure barge, and landed in the sedges, 
full of warblers and wild life. Beculee was but a 
league or two from Angers. Hard by the memoir 
was the sheltered and picturesque hermitage of La 
Baumette, — a shrine of St. Baume, patroness of 
Provence, — and hither Bene and Margaret resorted 
daily for prayer and meditation. 

Margaret's home-coming was sad enough, but her 
demeanour was rather that of defiance than of 
patience. Her pride had been laid low by her suffer- 
ings and ill-treatment, but not slain ; and when she 
heard of the treachery and chicanery of the King of 
France in entering Angers in force, and proclaiming 
himself Sovereign of Anjou, her scorn knew no 
bounds, and she chided her father for his pusillanimity, 
and reproached him for his dilettante life. His 
sedentary pleasures and his artistic tastes bored her 
cruelly ; she despised his peaceful handiwork, and 
craved his strong arm once more in the fight. If 
England was lost to her, Anjou and Provence should 
not be ; this was her grim determination, and she 
roused herself for action and foray. Like a lioness at 
bay, she fought out to a finish strenuously her troubled 
life, away from stricken fields and gruesome dungeons. 
Bene felt his daughter's strictures more acutely than 
he said ; indeed, they fell like blows of sharp poniards 
upon his wounded heart. The deaths of all his near 
relatives, sons and daughters, and his son-in-law, 
Ferri de Vaudemont, saddening as they were, were 
as nothing to the vituperations of Margaret — now 
almost a frenzied recluse. King Bene sank at last, 

20 



304 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

wearied, heart-broken, yet trustful in his God, into 
his mortal resting-place, and Queen Margaret retired 
to the Castle of Dampiere, near Saumur, the modest 
memoir of a devoted servant of her father's house, — 
the Sieur Francois de la Vignolles, of Moraens, — to 
end her dire days of woe. 

Her father left her what he could, impoverished 
as he was : 1,000 gold crowns and the Castle of 
Queniez — an inconsiderable estate between Angers 
and Saumur. Rene wrote to Louis a few months 
before his death, commending Margaret to his care 
and charity, and this is how the King of France 
executed the trust, so characteristic of his greed and 
cunning. He negotiated with Margaret the sale of 
her reversionary rights in Lorraine, Anjou, Maine, 
Provence, and Barrois, for an annual income of 
600 livres. The deed was executed at Reculee, 
November 19, 1480, but Louis never paid the 
annuity ! One purpose Margaret had in view in this 
arrangement was the recovery of the bodies of her 
husband and son, that she might give them decent 
burial. Edward IV. would not allow this seemly 
duty, and the bones of the illustrious dead were left 
dishonoured and unnoted. 

Margaret's nature would not allow of comfort. 
She was devoured with regret and consumed by 
revenge ; she spent the last two years of her stormy 
life in fretting and fuming over the disasters of her 
family. Her whole appearance and her manner 
changed. No longer lovely, as when she stepped on 
England's inhospitable shore, she became shrunk, 
aged, and pallid. The ravenings of her spirit had 
indeed transformed her into the " grim grey wolf of 
Anjou." She became leprous and hideous — "-the 



MARGUERITE D'ANJOU 305 

most hideous Princess in Europe," one might write. 
Gently but firmly she had to be restrained, lest she 
should do herself some harm and injure others. 
Alas ! Margaret of Anjou came to her death, not in 
the halo of sanctity, but in the mist of mental 
obscurity, and thus she died alone — perhaps un- 
lamented, and certainly misjudged by posterity. 
Near her end languor and paralysis seized her, and 
she passed away unconsciously on August 25, 1482. 

Above the chief portal of his castle De la Vignolles 
put up this epitaph : 

" In the year 1480 Margaret of Anjou and Queen 
of England, daughter of Rene, King of Naples, Sicily, 
and Jerusalem, forced to abandon her kingdom after 
having courageously borne herself in a great number 
of encounters and in twelve pitched battles, deprived 
of the rights of her family, spoiled of all her posses- 
sions, without means of support and without help, 
found a resting-place in this memoir, the home of 
Francois de la Vignolles, an old and faithful servant 
of her father. She died here August 25, 1482, aged 
no more than fifty-three years. Upon whose soul 
may Christ Jesus have pity." 

All that remained of this remarkable woman was 
interred without ceremony in the Cathedral of 
Angers. She was laid, it was said, by her father's 
side, but no inscription, no mark of any kind, records 
the fact. No one knows exactly where to bow the 
head in reverence and bend the knee in homage to the 
memory of Great Queen Margaret. In a very few 
words, however, are summed up in the " Paston 
Letters," No. 275, the character of Margaret 
d' Anjou : " The Queen is a grete and stronge 
laborid woman, for she spareth noo peyne to save 
hir things." 



CHAPTER IX 

JEHANNE DE LAVAL " THE LADY OF THE CREST 



There are roses at Christmas as well as at mid- 
summer, and although the pale single blossoms of the 
winter festival have not the fragrance of the floral 
queens of the month of Mary, they are roses all the 
same. All roses, though, have thorns, or their petals 
are crinkled and their leaves torn. In the Temple 
Gardens, as the story goes, once on a time two rival 
warriors met, and plucked, one a white, and one a red, 
rose from the bushes. They stuck them in their 
caps, and so carried them to battle, fierce and long — 
the deadly Wars of the Roses. The story of the 
rose heroine of those troubled scenes, the intrepid 
Queen Margaret, we have learnt ; now we must read 
the narrative of another Queen of Roses, La Demoi- 
selle Jehanne de Laval, and of her nigh fifty -years- 
old bridegroom, le bon Roy Rene, a Christmas rose. 

" May and December " we call such nuptials. But 
never mind. The monarch and the maid went very 
well together, and for them literally came true, "Roses, 
roses, all the way." He the great red standard rose 
of Provence, she the nestling, creeping, sweet wild- 
rose of Laval, mingled their renown and charm for 
the pleasure of all ages. 

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JEHANNE DE LAVAL 

From a Painting by King Rene, finished by Nicholas de Fronient (1475-76) 
at Aix Cathedral 



To face page 30& 



JEHANNE DE LAVAL 307 

Jehanne, or Jeanne, de Laval, " a very beautiful 
woman and superbly dressed " — this is a succinct and 
alluring description of one of the most fascinating 
beauties, as lovely in mind as in body, be it said, 
who ever took her gracious path across the pages of 
sentimental biography. Born at the Castle of Auray, 
— of which now not a stone is standing, — in Brittany, 
overlooking the tempestuous Atlantic and the Druid 
fable-land of Carnac-Locmariaker, on November 10, 
1433, Jehanne was the fifth child of Guy XIII., 
Count of Laval, and his wife, Isabelle de Bretagne, 
whose father was Jean VI., Duke of Brittany, 
and mother Princess Joanna of France, sister of 
Charles VII. The House of Laval was very famous 
in the annals of mediaeval France, and linked by 
auspicious marriages to all the Sovereign Princes of 
the land. The first Count was a Baron of Charle- 
magne — a " Guy," the unalterable prenominate of all 
the line. Their castle was founded by that King of 
romance and chivalry, King Arthur, and each succeed- 
ing occupant made good his claim to the gilded spurs 
of knighthood either on a stricken field or in a 
crusade to Palestine ; they were war-lords all. Laval 
was their principal stronghold, midway between 
Kennes and Le Mans, where the machicolated 
donjon of the Seigneurs of La Tremouille, upon its 
isolated rock, dominates the smiling countryside. 

The full title of the lordly Guys was Counts of 
Laval, Vitre, Gaure, and Montfort — all in Brittany. 
Count Guy XIII. had ten children by his consort 
Isabelle : Guy, who succeeded him as Guy XIV. ; 
Pierre, Duke and Archbishop of Reims ; Yolande, 
sponsored by Queen Yolande of Sicily-Anjou, and 
twice married, last to Charles of Anjou, King Rene's 



308 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

brother ; Francoise, who only survived her birth 
fourteen days ; Jehanne, or Jeanne ; Anne, died in 
infancy ; Artuse, who died unmarried at Marseilles 
in 1467 ; Helene, wife of Jehan de Malestroit, son of 
the Bishop of Nantes by his mistress, Isabel Kaer ; 
and Louise, who married Edward, Count of Pen- 
thievre. Guy XIII., inconsolable for the loss of the 
mother of his children, sought comfort in another 
matrimonial venture, and for his second wife took 
Francoise, daughter of Jacques de Dinan, Seigneur 
of Chateaubriant and Grand Butler at the Court of 
King Charles VI. She bore him three children,— 
Pierre, Francois, and Jacques, — so Jehanne was a 
member of a large and, we may presume, a happy 
family. Little Jehanne was baptized in the Audience 
Hall of the Castle of Auray by Amaury de la Motte, 
Bishop of Vannes. 

There is rarely very much to record of the early 
years of any girl's life, and Jehanne de Laval was no 
exception. A maiden was only made conspicuous by 
an early betrothal, and for that her parents worked 
assiduously. Jehanne was an exception to the rule 
of precocious marriages, for no one appears to have 
claimed her hand and heart until she was past her 
majority, and suitors probably regarded her as a 
negligible quantity. Jehanne, however, was not 
wanting in her entree upon the world of men and 
manners, and we make her acquaintance when not 
more than fourteen years of age, as she comes forward 
curvetting upon a blanche haguenec at a royal 
tournament. 

This was King Rene's Anjou tournament, famous, 
with those in Lorraine and Provence, as the most 
brilliant ever seen in France. The " Lists " in the 



JEHANNE DE LAVAL 309 

Anjou tournament were held in turn at Angers, 
Chinon, and Saumur, and it was at the latter gather- 
ing of chivalry, in 1446, that every knight and squire, 
every dame and damsel, turned in amazement as they 
beheld " a very young girl of most graceful shape 
and bearing, covered with a thin veil, and wearing 
silken garments sparkling with precious stones, riding 
most easily up to the tribune of honour." The 
colours of her habit were blue and white — blue, as 
tender as her eyes ; white, fair as her skin. The 
reins and crupper of her palfrey were decked with 
ribbons, blue and white, and he bore nodding feathers 
upon his head-piece. At each side walked her 
brothers Guy and Pierre, decked, too, in Laval 
colours, the most good-looking and best dressed of 
all the pages, holding the horse's snaffle. By way of 
suite there rode behind Jehanne de Laval, — for such 
was the beauteous maiden's name, — four maids of 
honour, each one a comely feature of a picture 
pageant. Amid exclamations of admiration and 
most pleasant greetings, the charming cavalcade de- 
scribed the circuit of the festival ground, and then its 
" Queen " leaped lightly to her feet, and, advancing 
to the royal stand, made curtsies to the Queens of 
Sicily and France, and to Charles and Rene, their 
royal consorts. 

Young knights and old came flocking round the 
" Fairy Queen," and she, naive and winsome, cast 
furtive glances here and there, until her bonnie blue 
eyes fastened themselves upon the young Count of 
Nevers, and he delightedly stepped forth to cavalier 
her to her seat amid the throng of beauty and fair 
fame upon the ladies' seats of honour. He was still 
a parti in spite of his rejection as suitor for the hand 



310 RENE D'ANJOU and his seven queens 

of Princess Margaret, and his handsome looks and 
gallant bearing stood him in good stead where 
amorous maidens forgathered. King Rene, — ever 
susceptible to female charms, both of mind and body, 
— did not behold the fair Demoiselle de Laval un- 
moved ; he had a tender spot in his great loving 
heart for any attractive damsel ; what healthy- 
minded man has not ? He could not know that that 
pretty, clever hand, which so skilfully managed her 
curvetting cob, would one day take his in hers for 
better, and not for worse ! 

The coming of young Jehanne de Laval to the 
tournament at Saumur provided the sensation of the 
day's exploits. The highest honour, which the 
assembled knights before the encounters in the 
" Lists " began could confer, was hers by universal 
acclamation. She was to be the lady bearer of the 
champion's crest, and, as " Queen of Queens," to 
affix the coveted guerdon of victory upon the helm 
of the most successful knight. This election was 
preceded by a characteristic observance, true to the 
pure spirit of chivalry. Each knight had to kneel 
before an altar for the blessing of his weapons, and 
for the mental registration of his suffrage for the 
" Queen." She was " the lady of his thought." So, 
certainly, the beauteous apparition of the young 
daughter of Guy de Laval caused many a misgiving 
in the hearts of gallant men. The " Lady " each had 
chosen none divulged by name, but, all the same, 
Cupid had done so to the ears of curious friends 
and foes. The wholesale desertion of their chosen 
divinities might very well account for hard looks and 
frowns from emulous maidens : — all we know, is not 
gold that glitters ! 



JEHANNE DE LAVAL 311 

The precious gage d? amour et de guerre, the 
champion's crest, took the form of a small gold 
crown, heavily jewelled, from which sprang, retained 
by wires of gold, three pure white curled feathers of 
the crested heron. It was awarded to the knight 
whose bearing in the " Lists " had been the most 
gallant, and whose victories over adversaries had 
been most effective, and who had thereby gained the 
unanimous votes of the tournament judges. Other 
prizes there were of scarcely less distinction : the 
first, a golden lance in miniature, to the knight who ad- 
ministered the most brilliant blow and in the shortest 
time; the second, a rich ruby valued at 1,000 ecus 
d'or, — for mounting in his helm, — for the breaker of 
the most lances ; and the third, a pure diamond of a 
similar value, for him who lasted out the longest 
before being vanquished by his opponent's lance. 

The "Bringing in the Champion's Crest" was a 
remarkably pretty ceremony. The " Queen of 
Beauty," attended by two maids of honour, all clad 
in full state robes, with towering hennins, and wear- 
ing superb jewels and ornaments, were escorted to a 
chamber of preparation, within the castle, imme- 
diately before the closing banquet of the tournament. 
There a procession was marshalled ; pages of the 
contestant knights, arrayed in their proper colours 
and wearing ermine mantles, danced gaily before the 
" Queen of Beauty," and knelt as she advanced, 
bearing the flashing crest upon an embroidered scarf. 
Pursuivants, heralds, and kings-of-arms, swelled the 
glittering progress with tabards, wands, and crowns. 
Masters of the ceremony were in attendance on the 
" Queen." All moved with grace and dignity to the 
banqueting-hall, which they traversed up to the royal 



312 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

dais, accompanied by attendants bearing great flaring 
torches and waxen candles. Everybody rose at the 
entry of the procession, and the Prince of highest 
rank handed the " Queen " to her special seat, whence 
she might receive the homage of the knightly com- 
pany, and bestow upon the champion the crest she 
bore. Strident music and the blare of brazen horns 
filled the great hall, and the high-pitched roof re- 
echoed the plaudits of the company. 

The " Grand Prix " was gained neither by King 
Pene nor by King Charles. The former, indeed, caused 
a sensation by appearing in black tournament 
armour, his shield studded with silver spangles ; his 
lance was black, and his charger caparisoned in a 
black housing, which trailed the ground. Pene was 
mourning still for his good mother, Queen Yolande, 
and for his second son of promise rare, Louis, 
Marquis of Pont-a-Mousson. The " Champion of 
Champions " was not the Count of Nevers, — perhaps 
to Jehanne's regret, — but Louis de Beauvau ; whilst 
the second prize fell to Pobert de Florigny, and the 
third to Ferri de Vaudemont. These famous tourna- 
ments did not lack the assistance by illustration of 
painters ; Jehanot le Flament, — better known nowa- 
days as Jan van Eyck, — King Rene's master at 
Bar-le-Duc, was in attendance on his royal pupil, 
and painted at least two considerable pictures of the 
pageants. Alas ! those valuable paintings are lost 
to us. 

Well, the ". Lists " were over, and the world 
and his wife resumed their usual avocations, and 
Jehanne de Laval went home once more with her 
parents, to finish her education and to be pro- 
vided with a husband. And now the chroniclers 



JEHANNE DE LAVAL 313 

of such events as matrimony fail us. Very well we 
might have expected the announcement of the " Fairy 
Queen's " betrothal immediately after that famous 
tournament. But no — and in vain we search for the 
reason. Jehanne was not espoused. Some have 
said that Count Guy, seeing King Rene's unconcealed 
admiration for his captivating little daughter, and 
bearing to his beloved companion in peace and war 
well-worn confidence, conceived a romantic dream. 
Queen Isabelle was said to be very delicate. She 
might die young, and then Jehanne might be Rene's 
solace and his love ! Whether the King and the 
maiden met again and often we do not know. Very 
likely indeed they did, for Jehanne and Margaret 
d'Anjou were playmates, and Laval was not so very 
far from Angers. This is a dream, of course. 

There is a touching story which connects Jehanne 
de Laval with another Margaret — Margaret of Scot- 
land, the virtuous and accomplished spouse of Louis 
the Dauphin, and a great favourite with King Charles 
and Queen Marie. The unhappy Princess died of 
poison at Sarry-le-Chateau on August 16, 1445 — 
poison administered, it was understood, by her un- 
scrupulous husband. She was only twenty- three 
years of age, but had been Dauphiness for eight 
years — years of neglect and cruelty. Among the 
suite which gathered around the bonnie Scottish 
Princess were young girls, and of these one was 
Jehanne de Laval, of whom Margaret made a special 
pet, and shared with her her meals and leisure. 
Some candies were given to the children by the 
Princess, who rejected them as tasting bitter. Mar- 
garet, to allay their mistrust, ate a number, and she 
sickened and died. Her last words were : " A curse 



314 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

on life ! Don't trouble me about it." This lamen- 
table cry was drawn from her through the false 
aspersions on her honour raked up against her 
by her husband. Marriage was indeed a failure to 
Margaret of Scotland, for " there was no one she 
dreaded," says de Commines, " like my lord the 
Dauphin." 

The next scene wherein Jehanne de Laval is 
recorded to have been a participant was the obse- 
quies of Queen Isabelle of Sicily- Anjou and Naples. 
We may, however, be quite certain that she was not 
absent very far what time that excellent Princess was 
in Angers attending to the education of her family. 
They were all of near age to the daughter of Count 
Guy. Yolande d'Anjou was five years her senior, 
and Margaret no more than four. Be this as it may, 
King Rene, anyhow, was not very much in Anjou ; 
his brain and hands were full of warlike things, and 
embarrassed by lack of means. 

Rene d'Anjou, King and Duke, the preux chevalier 
of all the beautiful women in his dominions, did not 
fail to excite feelings of admiration and of a profounder 
passion in the pulsating hearts of the amorous women 
and girls of Genoa. There he was received with 
acclamations by warrior men, and with kisses by 
their wives and sweethearts. A foreign Prince, 
especially if he had gained renown in love and war, 
was always welcomed enthusiastically by the strong- 
blooded Ligurians. The customary characteristic 
offering of the city, — a maiden or two of high birth, — 
was at the King's disposal. Their names, alas ! have 
not been recorded, but Rene showed his appreciation 
of his host's magnificent and patriarchal hospitality 
by despatching, on November 10, 1447, four splendid 



JEHANNE DE LAVAL 315 

collars of beaten gold, with medallions of himself, to 
Tommaso Spinola, Giacomo Fiesco, Tommaso Fregoso, 
and Francesco Doria, fathers of his innamorate. The 
historians of Genoa all wrote sententiously of the 
royal visitor : " Every woman, even the poorest, put 
on a new guise, — pure white raiment, — in compliment 
to the Holy Maid's lieutenant, and all wore ornaments 
of pure gold in token of their love for her, and for him 
their favour. Tournament, dance, and song, made 
the city a rare paradise of joy." The daughters of 
Genoa, — true daughters of Eve, — ever evoked the 
encomiums of all, as the following quaint quintet, in 
perhaps dubious parlance, affirms : 

" Le Donne son Santi in Chiesa, 
Angele in Istrada, 
Diavole in Casa, 
Civette alia Finestra, 
Gassi alia Porta."* 

On Monday,March 5, 1453, when the Queen's burial 
casket was borne under its silken canopy through the 
streets of Angers, twenty fair daughters of Anjou 
and the adjoining States strewed white flowers in 
the way. Their leader was Jehanne de Laval, now 
grown to womanhood, fresh and sweet. She had 
loved the lamented Queen, and learned much from 
her gentle ways and her heroism, and she grieved for 
the bereavement of King Rene and his children. 
Companions in love and comrades in sorrow cling 
equally to one another, and those who rejoice together 
in the sunshine compassionate each other in the shade. 
Pity is the tender veil of Cupid's favours. 

* " Women are Saints in Church, 
Angels in the Street, 
Devils at Home, 
Owls in the Window, 
Magpies at the Door." 



316 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 



II. 

King Rene's grief at the untimely death of his 
devoted spouse completely unstrung the man and 
disabled the monarch. He gave himself away to 
tears and melancholy, from which even the embraces 
of his children failed to rouse him. His Ministers 
and courtiers viewed the desolation of their Sovereign 
with sincere and deep concern, for it threatened to 
unnerve him permanently for the arduous duties of 
his station. A consultation was held at Angers by 
the Barons and nobles of Anjou, Maine, Lorraine, 
Barrois, and Provence, with respect to their beloved 
Sovereign's prostration, and a unanimous decision was 
reached — a second marriage with a young consort, 
comely, cultivated, and of good fame. A petition 
was presented to the King praying him to yield to the 
advice of his " right loyal lieges," that he should look 
out for some noble and virtuous "pucelle qui fust a son 
gre." They add : " We have found just such une tres 
belle Jllle nomme'e Jehanne de Laval, — wise, well- 
conditioned, and of adult age, — and we know that she 
is ready to become the spouse of our very good lord." 

The sorrowful King took heart of grace, acceded 
to his subjects' agreeable suggestion, and, knowing 
well himself all young Jehanne's charms, despatched 
forthwith a gallant embassy to his old friend, Count 
Guy, demanding the hand of his beauteous daughter. 
Only one bar appeared to stop the course of true 
love, — for such Rene's was for Jehanne, — the disparity 
of age : he was forty-seven, she twenty- two. This 
was soon dismissed, and " May " and " December " 
were betrothed in the August month of ripe red gold. 



JEHANNE DE LAVAL 317 

Articles of marriage were signed at Angers on Sep- 
tember 3, 145 5 — by Seigneur de Couldray, Captain of 
the Guard ; Guy de Laval ; Louis de Beauvau ; the 
Counts of Vendome and Tanearville ; the Seigneur de 
Lohere ; Raoul de Bosket ; and Olivier de Feschal — 
whereby the bride's dot was fixed at 40,000 ecus a" or 
{circa £2,000). The marriage ceremony was cele- 
brated at the abbey church of St. Nicholas d' Angers 
on September 1 6 by Cardinal de Foix, Archbishop of 
Aries, in the presence of Bishops and deputations 
from every part of King Rene's dominions. The 
wedding ceremony was notable for the appearance of 
the bride's young brother Pierre, a boy of eleven 
years of age, habited in full episcopal vestments. He 
was nominal Archbishop of Reims and Bishop of 
St. Brieux and St. Malo. 

The citizens of Angers received their new Queen 
" en grant joye et lyesse" but, notwithstanding the 
general satisfaction, the Court became grave and 
serious, and, to universal astonishment, there were 
neither tournaments for the nobles nor junketings for 
the poorer people. The heart of the King was still 
sore ; he seemed disinclined for festivities, and sought 
solitude and devotional exercises ; his spirit was 
acharne — sad within him. " Had he," people asked, 
" renounced the pleasures he so loved for ever ?" 
Bene found relief from the tension of his feelings in 
the composition of a moral allegory which he entitled 
"Le Mortefiement de Vaine Plaisance," which he dedi- 
cated to his confessor, Jean Bernard, Bishop of Tours. 
It is by way of being a dialogue between a soul 
devoured by love divine and a heart full of earthly 
vanities. Other dramatis persona are introduced at 
intervals : " Fear of God ;" " Divine Justice ;" 



318 RENt DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

" Faith/' " Hope," and " Sovereign Love," with " True 
Contrition." Midway in the lengthy poem is a " sim- 
ilitude," accompanied by a very beautiful drawing, 
showing a Queen, — perhaps Isabelle, — seated open- 
bosomed in a country waggon, bareheaded, her crown 
upon her knees. The two horses are tandem-harnessed, 
the wheeler bestridden by a rider with a thong in hand, 
the leader turning sharply round. Thus did Rene's 
poetic imagination picture his loss and his woe. The 
dedication is most touching : " Considering that the 
course of life runs like a river, without stopping or 
running back, it is necessary to do good deeds to earn 
a sweet repose. I set myself to write this book for the 
love of the Redeemer, but, that my work may be useful 
for all, I tell in plain speech the conflict of the soul and 
heart." 

The royal couple left Angers immediately after 
their marriage, and spent the month's honeymoon at 
the Castle of Launay les Saumur. Then they set 
off for Provence, and reached Aries early in Novem- 
ber. This was the prelude to an entirely new course 
of life which King Rene had in his mind. For thirty 
years and more he had courted the smiles of Fortune 
in the arena of arms, and she had only given him 
frowns. His courage and his chivalry had met with 
scant success. Hopes disappointed and finances 
wasted, he was a wiser if a poorer man ; but now the 
residue of his days and enterprises should be dif- 
ferently expended. Peace has its triumphs as well 
as war. Poets and writers, troubadours and musi- 
cians, artists and craftsmen, farmers and sportsmen, 
and peasants and fishermen, were peaceful folk ; with 
such would he throw in his lot — a roi-patron, a roi- 
faineant, would he be ! 



JEHANNE DE LAVAL 319 

The journey to the south was, as usual, by river 
barge up the winding sylvan Loire to Roanne, and 
thence a portage to Valence, and on by water past 
Montelimart, Orange, and Avignon. The King, like 
other rulers in France, maintained a fleet of vessels for 
trade and pleasure upon the splendid waterways. It 
was, of course, a royal progress such as Rene and 
his father and brother, and Queen Yolande, his 
venerated mother, had often made, and very cordial 
were the greetings by the way. At Aries, where 
the King and Queen were rapturously received, they 
found awaiting them deputations from every consider- 
able place in Provence, each bearing goodly offerings 
to their liege lord and lady. Aries presented 400 
ecus oVor in two enamelled gold flasks, and six chased 
cups of silver ; Aix, two great bowls of silver em- 
bossed and jewelled, six silver cups, and three goblets 
of gold ; Marseilles, 200 ecus d'or, to be spent in 
buying fine wax, at the pleasure of the Queen, — a 
treasured possession, — and four silver cups ; Avignon, 
twelve enamelled silver cups and two gold goblets ; 
Tarascon, a great gold ewer and six small goblets — 
and so on. Formalities completed and Te Deum 
sung, Rene and Jehanne went off to Aix, there to 
settle and to arrange their household affairs. In 
recognition of this auspicious visit to Provence, the 
King created his consort Countess of Les Baux, with 
proprietary rights in that ancient stronghold. 

The ancient family had become extinct in the 
comely person of Countess Alix, a helpless girl 
placed under the guardianship of her uncle, Robert 
de Beaufort, better known as " Le Fleau de Pro- 
vence" the leader of a band of ruffians designated 
" Les Tards- Venus." Fair Alix died unmarried in 

21 



320 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

1426, and the county of Les Baux passed to 
Louis III. d'Anjou, King Rene's brother. For 
Jehanne de Laval her loving spouse repaired and 
decorated the ruinous old castle. The pleasure- 
grounds were laid out by Rene, and the " Pavilion 
de la Royne Jehanne " erected, a true " Pavilion 
oV Amour" wherein he and she could repose and 
utter sweet nothings to one another, and revive also 
some of the fascinating observances of the once 
famous " Court of Love " of Les Baux. Spirits of 
former Countess - Presidents of Chapters of the 
Troubadours flitted to and fro the " Chamber of the 
Rose." The beauteous if fateful sisters, Etiennette 
and Douce, gracious spouses of two fierce rival 
Counts, Raymond des Baux and Berenger de Barce- 
lona, but rivals in the poems and dances of the 
troubadours, away in the twelfth century, looked down, 
perhaps, from the eerie thrones in " II Paradiso " 
upon the new Queen of Beauty. The girlish figure, 
too, of Cecile des Baux, " La Passe Pose" the fairest 
beauty of them all, sought, a century later, the 
spiritual companionship of Alix, the last of the 
chatelaines, with her to observe the graceful figure of 
Queen Jehanne. Memories of lovely women and the 
romances of their lives appealed irresistibly to the 
royal troubadour ; he could picture the gay crowds 
in the games of Love. Dark deeds, too — the clash 
of weapons and the stealthy poniard ; the smothered 
cries from the oubliettes, and the defiant oaths of men 
in irons : these the imaginative poet-monarch could 
most easily re-create. A thought-moving memento 
of a vivid and lurid past was brought to light not 
so many years ago in a coffin discovered in the crypt 
of the ruined church of St. Catherine — it was a 




E-i .2 



JEHANNE DE LAVAL 321 

woman's long soft golden hair cut off at the roots. 
To whom did this cabelladuro d'or belong ? Some 
beauty done to death, perhaps, or peacefully fallen 
upon sleep in the dim, dim past ? Or was it, as it 
may have been, the chevelure of that beautiful young 
Italian girl in the suite of Queen Jehanne, who 
married at Les Baux the Queen's Seneschal, and died 
or ever that day's curfew sounded ? The " Pavilion 
de la Royne Jelianne" with its miniature dome 
and delicate frieze, supported on Ionic columns, 
still stands, but hidden away amid cornstalks and 
verdure, whilst, alas ! nothing whatever remains of 
the Queen's gardens, where courtier cavaliers flirted 
and toyed withher Maids of Honour. Jehanne loved 
Les Baux almost as much as she did her Laval 
barony of Beaufort, and Rene loved it, too, for 
her sake. 

Early in the springtide which followed the settle- 
ment of the King and Queen in Provence, they 
sought the peaceful charms of the country-side, and 
made their way, accompanied by a very limited suite, 
to the neighbourhood of Tarascon. The stately 
castle, so lately Rene's favourite abode, had little 
attraction for ruralizing royalty, so they packed 
themselves into a modest bastide, or farmstead, upon 
the kingly estate, Pertuis, not far from Cadenet, 
below Mont Luberon. Its position was delightful, 
overlooking the turbulent river Durance, with its 
strewn verdure-grown rocks and boulders, and its 
banks lined by sedges, willows, and alders, hiding 
many a still pool of trout. There the royal couple 
wandered forth hand in hand, quite unattended, amid 
the growing vines and chestnut woods, conversing 
with all the country-folk they met, sharing with 



322 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

them their homely fare, and watching delightedly 
their rural games and dances. Many a time Rene, 
with Jehanne as his happy assessor, sat upon old 
saules, or willow stumps, under a spreading tree, to 
receive requests and discern disputes, dispensing royal 
justice with the simple hand of equity. 

The life they led was an ideal one — a dream, an 
inspiring fantasy. The songs of birds, the brush of 
wings of butterflies, the thousand and one mysterious 
sounds of animated, sun-cheered Nature, and the 
scent of spring narcissi, with the glowing glories of 
anemones, seemed all to be in harmony with the 
fresh greenery of tree and crop, the gambols of young 
lambs, and the cooing of sweetheart doves. The 
King and Queen became for the nonce shepherd 
and shepherdess ; Jehanne was nymph of the 
bosquets, Rene her impassioned Apollo, his heart's 
wounds healed at last, his soul's new hopes at bud. 
The Muse of Poetry dwelt also in that pleasant 
fairy-land, and her voice, rustling the zephyr-moved 
foliage, reached the poetic nature of the agrestical 
King, and out of his sympathetic brain came the 
impulse of the hand which penned one of the most 
delicate and affecting " Pastorals " that ever man 
produced. 

The scene is laid in the meadows of the royal 
country house, where shepherds and shepherdesses 
and toilers in the soil, — vigorous and fair, — are 
giving themselves away to the joys of pastoral revels. 
Chancing that way is a pilgrim, newly come from 
recording'' his vows at the shrine of Notre Dame de 
Larghet. Looking ahead, the penitent beholds the 
entrancing vision, and, whilst he brushes away the 
assiduous attentions of a big bumble-bee, he is con- 



JEHANNE DE LAVAL 323 

scious of voices murmuring close at hand. It is but 
the love-chat of a lovelorn lad and lass, seated by a 
dripping fountain of the rivulet. Behind them is the 
stump of a great forest king with no more than one 
lean branch to show its life. The youth vanishes 
mysteriously, but the girl beckons caressingly to the 
wandering pilgrim, and she invites him with dulcet 

voice : 

" Regnault, men environ 
De la souche ; et nous asseon, 
Cy toy et moy I" * 

The shy wanderer approaches diffidently, and then 
the maiden opens her little luncheon basket, which 
hangs from her shoulders by blue silken ribbons, and 
eats a portion of a roll ; to him she offers the 
remainder. The fascination of the moment overrides 
all scruples, and Regnault, as she has called him, 
kneels at his enchantress's feet, strokes her hands and 
arms, and protests his love. The damsel is willy- 
nilly, and naively cries : " All fall in love, and all 
fall out ; and so may you, fair sir, for aught I know !" 
Carried away by the vehemence of his passion, 
Regnault tries to seize the girl and press his hot 
lips upon hers, so coral pink ; but she evades him, 
slips from his grasp, and, presto ! she has vanished. 
All dazy-wazy Regnault rises, holds out his hands 
beseechingly, and then, folding them upon his breast, 
with bowed head he seeks once more the mountain 
shrine, and before our sweet Lady of Consolation 
pours out his heart and his soul. Compline still finds 
him saying his Aves, and Night covers him with her 

* " Kegnault, come thee near 
This tree ; have no fear, 
Only thee and me!" 



324 REN^ D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

restful shroud ; his last words are addressed to his 
meadow nymph : 

" T'ameray tres parfaidment, 
Du bon du Cuer si loijaument, 
Que ne te fauldray nullement 
Jusques h mort." * 

This very beautiful poem the royal lover entitled 
" Regnault et Jehanneton" or " Les Amours du Ber- 
geron et de la Bergeronne" — a play, of course, upon his 
own name and Queen Jehanne's. At the end of the 
manuscript Rene drew a very pretty design — side by 
side two shields of arms, his and Jehanne's, united by 
a royal crown ; his supporter, on the left, une souche, 
— the stump of a forest tree, — with one nourishing 
foliaged branch bearing a censer of burning incense ; 
her supporter, on the right, a chestnut-tree in full 
flower, and on a branch two royal paroquets — -love- 
birds ! 

In 1457 the poet-King put forth an allegory of 
chivalry which he called " La Conqueste de Doulce 
Mercy par le Cuer d' Amour espris." The conceit of 
the story is just a simple knight, — youthful, 
vigorous, and a true lover of women, — setting forth 
for the devotion he holds for his mistress to endure 
perilous adventures. Rene himself is, of course, the 
hero of the poem, the intrepid soldier of Naples, the 
heroic prisoner of Bulgneville. 

The opening of the poem reveals " le Bon Roy " one 
night wakeful, and suffering heartache — " Mortie 
dormant en resverie." It appeared to him that his 

* " I love thee perfectly, 

From bottom of my heart ; 

I will never fail thee 

Till death us two shall part." 



JEHANNE DE LAVAL 325 

heart left his breast, and that " Vif Desire" whispered 

gently : 

"Si, Doulce Mercy, 
Desires de povoir avoir, 
II fault que tu faces devoir 
Par la force d'armes I'acquerir." * 

" Vif Desire" then armed "Cuer" with a blade 
of steel, keen and bright, a helmet stamped with 
amorous thoughts bearing the crest of hope, three 
blooms of " N'oubliez mye" Then led gently forth, 
he meets " Franc Vouloir," tall and strong, and 
fully armed for all emergencies ; and putting spurs to 
his charger, he goes off at a gallop with his com- 
panions. Over hill and dale they dash, until they 
come in view of a lovely damsel — 

"plaiesante et blonde 
Et de tons Mens la plus parfaict du monde." 

After passing through a weird forest, they emerge 
upon a smiling valley, where they behold a sumptuous 
palace. On approaching, they see a very splendid 
column of jasper, and after dismounting they read 
the inscription carved thereon : 

" A vous, tous Cuers gentilz et gracieux, 
Qui conquirir voulez pour valori mieulx 
Du Dieu d' Amour et de vos Dames aussi 
Doulce grace et eureuse mercy. 
N'ayez en vous changement de pensie 
Pour delaissier vos premieres amours, 
Soiez loyaux sans varier toiisjours, 
Pitie pur vous ne sera par lase'e." 

Whilst pondering over this epithet, a very beautiful 
woman approaches them, splendidly attired in royal 

* " If, True Chivalry, 

Thou wouldst have power, 
Then thy metal try 
And by arms acquire." 



326 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

robes, and seizes hold of the reins of " Franc 
Vouloirs " steed. " Cuer " at once turns to her, and, 
kneeling, kisses her hand and asks her name. 
" Douce Esperance," she replies, " and I greet you, 
worthy gentlemen,, and desire to set you on your 
way. Directed by this gracious lady, they reach the 
shores of a great lake or sea, and, moored by the 
water's edge, they espy a little sailing vessel, and in 
it two lovely maidens — "Fiance" and "Actente" — 
about whom "Douce Esperance" had spoken. 
Leaving their mounts to wander free, the travellers 
board the frail craft, and, presto ! they are at the 
glorious temple of the Isle of Love. The day passes 
dillydally ; they all sup together, and the sweet, soft 
shadows hide their repose. Other characters are 
"Bel Accueil" "Franchise," " Piete" "Faux Sem- 
blant" and " Largesse "; and the allegory ends, as all 
should do, in the complete victory of Cupid. 

The year that Louis XL, by his greed and 
treachery, drove his noble uncle, " le Bon Roy Rene" 
out of Anjou was one of trial and embarrassment for 
the King of Sicily. At first his feelings, outraged 
by the infamous behaviour of the son of his best- 
loved sister, Queen Marie, got the better of his 
equanimity, and he gave way to indignant protests; 
but when a man is in his sixties he learns to put up 
with base affronts. Rene learned by sad experience 
to measure hypocrites by their professions, but to 
leave their castigation to posterity. He accepted 
philosophically, adverse circumstances as they arose 
and not only checked the expression of his own senti- 
ments, but discouraged reprisals on the part of his 
impatient and indignant subjects. With this same 
restraint the poet- King put forth a sententious 



JEHANNE DE LAVAL 327 

drama, which he entitled " VAbuze en Court "; we 
may translate it, perhaps, " The Victim of Circum- 
stances." Its theme may be gauged as follows : 
Within the shady portal of an ancient church, — the 
pavement strewn with the persons of the blind and 
crippled seeking alms, — a pious wayfarer beheld an 
oldish man whose silken though shabby attire spoke 
of better days. His doublet was torn and his long 
poniard broken, his light brown hair streaked with 
silver strands, and his pouch poorly furnished. The 
wayfarer speaks kindly to the victim of Providence : 

"Mon gentil homme, Dieu vous garde, 
Et vous doint ce que d&seriez. 
Pardonnez moi, je vous en prie, 
Et me dictez par courtousie 
De vostre vie le renom 
Que vous estez et vostre nom." * 

UAbuze politely replies : 

" Sire 1 pourquoi le demandez 
C'est raison que je vous le dye. 
J 'ay nom sans que riens en mesdye 
Le pouvre homme abuzi en court." 

Then he goes on to tell his story — the story of his 
life's adversity, a biograph of Rene's. In happy days, 
now past, he had his amours and his ambitions, his 
military exploits and his acts of peace. Much of his 
time he had spent unselfishly caring for others, whose 
weal depleted his purse and embarrassed his affairs 
until he was forced to settle with his creditors. The 
narrative is worked out in dialogue by the con- 

* " My good fellow, God protect you, 

And grant you all that now you desire. 
Forgive me fully, now I pray you, 
And tell me something of your despair. 
By your courtesy I would your name, 
And your life's story and deeds of fame.' 



328 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

course of many speakers — among them a great lady, 
" La Court " — Providence, and two demoiselles of pity 
— "Abuz" — Wantoncy, and " Folcuideo" — Mockery. 

The raise en scene varies as the tension, and the 
vicissitudes of human life are presented under every 
aspect. The poem is a " morality," as that term was 
erstwhile understood. 

The end of the whole matter is summed up charac- 
teristically as follows : 

" J'ay pascience ! 
Et pour vostre paine et salaire 
Y-a-t-il aulcun que y pense ? 
Pour a voz loyers satisfaire 
Que avez vous ? 

J'ay pascience /" * 

Rene and Jehanne went to Provence in 1473 in 
the guise of fugitives. The Angevines deplored 
excessively this exile ; they loved both King and 
Queen, and Louis and all his works they hated 
cordially. Rene saw no other course to follow. He 
was heavily cast down by family afflictions. Jean, 
his noble eldest son, was dead ; dead, too, were 
Charles d'Anjou, his brother, and Nicholas, his dear 
grandson, and Ferri de Vauddmont. He sought 
peace and consolation, and Provence and the Pro- 
vencaux offered both most loyally. 

The story of Louis's perfidy may be shortly told. 
In 1474 Rene proclaimed Charles de Maine, his 
nephew, his heir to Anjou-Provence, regardless of 
the French King's presumptions. Louis summoned 

* " Patience is mine ! 
For your ailing and for your health, 
Is there anything for which you pine 
Openly to gain, or by your stealth, 
What would you 1 

Patience is mine !" 



JEHANNE DE LAVAL 329 

his uncle to Paris to answer before the Parliament. 
Something of a compromise was come to, for Louis 
said he should be content for Charles to be pro- 
claimed Duke and Count, but after him he or his 
heirs would annex both duchy and county to France. 

It had always been the policy of Sovereigns to 
encourage knight-errantry and tournaments, for the 
competitors who assembled became lieges of the lord. 
The names and performances of candidates were 
inscribed on parchment rolls with gold and enamels ; 
these were read out aloud by tabarded heralds. The 
champions were escorted in pageants to be decorated 
by the Queen or Lady President of the " Lists " — a 
graduation, so to speak, in a world-wide University of 
chivalry. In 1453 Duke Philippe of Burgundy 
instituted a very singular festival, " The Pageant of 
the Pheasant," in which knights were made to swear 
for Church and fame. The oath ran as follows : 
" I iV. swear before God, my Creator, in the first 
place ; the ever-glorious Mary, His mother ; and, 
lastly, before these ladies of the tournament and the 
Pheasant, to be a true and Christian knight." The 
Pheasant was the emblem of fecundity, the mascot of 
would-be brides and mothers ! 

Troubadours and " Courts of Love " were comple- 
ments of warlike deeds on stricken field or in tilting- 
joust. The Provencal seigneurs and their ladies lived 
in lonely castles, with nothing on earth to do. 
Provence was the cradle of the troubadours. Every 
troubadour had to choose the lady of his passion ; she 
might return it or not, as she chose. It was Guil- 
laume de Poitou, a very famous troubadour, who gave 
the maxim : "If you propose a game of love, I am 
not too foolish to refuse, but I shall choose the side 



330 RENE D^NJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

that is the best." All this appealed to King Rene, 
and his bent fell in distinctly with that of the famous 
troubadours of the past. His poetic and sentimental 
nature found reflective expression in the old " Magali," 
of the popular melodies of Provence : 

" Magali ma tant amado, 
Mete la tete au fenestroun, 
Esecuto un pan aguesto subado 
De Tambourine, de Fiouloun 
Esplein estello paramount, 
L'Auro os tournado 
Mailes estello paliran 
Quand te verraut." 

This was the spirit of the life to which King Rene 
introduced his young and beauteous consort — a 
romantic existence which appealed forcibly to the 
sweet instincts of the royal bride. Her response 
was the joy of Rene's heart ; if denied the fruit of 
sexual love, he and she were productive of the issue 
of kindred souls. They lived for one another in an 
elysium of bliss, chaste and unalloyed, with no 
qualms of conscience and no aftermath of reproach. 

Rene's love of Jehanne became a passion ; her 
freshness and animation and the evenness of her dis- 
position were to him like so many springs of invigora- 
ting water, whence, quaffing, he ever rose to new 
activities. She became the inspirer of his poetry, the 
spur in his official duties, and the pivot of his 
benevolence. He was never tired of extolling her 
virtues in prose and verse, nor of painting her in 
miniature and in large. It was said that he always 
carried about with him wherever he went her portrait, 
which he himself painted upon a small oval piece of 
walnut wood let into a locket frame of chiselled gold 
and enamel. More than this, his most treasured 



JEHANNE DE LAVAL 331 

trophy of the " Lists " — the lance with which he 
unseated Charles VII. at the nuptial tournament for 
Queen Marguerite d'Anjou — contained an orifice 
wherein he inserted another likeness of " la bonne 
Jelianne" In the inventory of his garclerobe at 
Angers Castle we read : " Item, Ung bois de lance 
creux, ou il y a dedans un rollet de parchemin, 
auquel cest dedans la portraicture de la Royne de 
Sidle."* 

The Comptes de Roi Rene, filling very many 
folios, wherein are noted household, State, and 
private expenses and other correlative matters, were 
stored in the Chambre des Comptes which Rene 
caused to be built at Angers Castle. A suite of 
apartments facing the river was used for the trans- 
action of business matters and for the deposit of 
valuable documents. Here, too, was the King's 
council-chamber, whilst in the gardens stretching in 
front along the river-side were cages and caves, 
wherein were kept many lions and strange beasts 
the collection of which became a royal hobby. 
Beyond the spacious buildings at the centre of the 
gardens was a pavilion which Rene used as a study 
and a sanctum, wherein he spent much of his leisure 
time dreaming, reading, and writing. Here he kept 
a register of artists and artisans, noting their several 
qualifications, their works, and their honorariums and 
salaries. He had a sort of school of architect- 
surveyors who, under his personal direction, prepared 
plans and projections of all the works, public and 
private, in which he was interested — markets, bridges, 
fountains, cottages, etc. 

* " Item, A hollow lance pole wherein there is a roll of parch- 
ment upon which is a portrait of the Queen of Sicily." 



332 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

A work at Angers in which he took the greatest 
interest, and on which he lavished large sums of 
money, was the erection and decoration of a chapel 
within the Cathedral of St. Maurice, which he dedi- 
cated to the ever-blessed memory of St. Bernardin, his 
cherished friend and confessor. 

Giovanni della Porta was born at Massa di Carrara 
at the close of 1384. He took the cord and cowl of 
St. Francis d'Assisi, and was sent with other brethren 
of the Order to evangelize the people of Marseilles. 
He became attached to the household of King 
Louis II., Rene's father, and thus an intimacy sprang 
up between the two. He accompanied Rene on all 
his expeditions to Italy, and remained in priestly 
attendance upon him when at home. The good man 
died of fever at Aquila in Calabria in 1449, and 
Rene, ever grateful to his mentor and spiritual father, 
in 1450 prevailed upon Pope Nicholas V. to order 
his canonization. Certain miracles said to have been 
wrought at his tomb in Southern Italy, and weird 
happenings as his body was translated to Anjou, 
convinced the Curia of his sanctity. His memorial 
chapel at Angers was a sumptuous erection, and in its 
adornment the King took an active part, painting the 
glass windows and the altar and its reredos. Before 
the resting-place of the dead saint's corpse Rene 
directed a funeral chamber to be made, wherein he 
subsequently ordered by his will that bis heart should 
be deposited. This was an action truly characteristic 
of " le bon Roy." He had so often unburdened himself 
to the saint, and from him had obtained not only 
absolution, but direction, that their two hearts beat 
in accord in life, and in death they were also joined. 

Not only did the heart of Rene rest near St. Ber- 



JEHANNE DE LAVAL 333 

nardin, but the hearts also, — each in its golden 
casket, — of Jehanne and the valiant and chivalrous 
Jean de Calabria, Rene's eldest son. 

King Rene and Queen Jehanne were pious folk 
indeed. At Marseilles, at Tarascon, and at Aix 
itself, they assisted humbly at Church festivals, pro- 
cessions, and pilgrimages. The lives and loves of 
the humble home at Bethany in Palestine, tran- 
shipped to the reverent shores of tuneful Provence, 
kindled the affection and the reverence of one and 
all. The feasts of " Les Maries" St. Marthe de 
Tarasque, and of St. Maximin, good Lazarus's dis- 
ciple, were honoured by enthusiastic annual devotions. 
No one tired of hearing of those saintly lives, and 
no sacrifice was too great to show the heart's de- 
votion. King Rene and his consort's offerings took 
the form of costly reliquaries in gold, enamels, and 
jewels, depositories upon high-altars for holy relics. 
The royal couple assisted at the translation of St. 
Martha's relics to Tarascon, May 10, 1458. In 
1461 from Aix went a splendid casket to the 
collegiate church of St. George at Nancy, in pious 
memory of that redoubtable warrior and of the gentle 
Isabelle de Lorraine. It was intended for the 
encasement of a thigh - bone of the Knight of 
Cappadocia. The King and Queen in 1473 pre- 
sented another precious reliquary to the Church of 
St. Nicholas du Port at Angers, and with it they 
bestowed upon the clergy the unique gift of an arm 
and a hand of the saint. Twelve leagues from Aix is 
the curious little town of St. Maximin, where, in the 
thirteenth-century church, — built by Charles II. of 
Naples and Provence, ancestor of Queen Giovanna II., 
— are preserved the sacred bones of St. Mary Mag- 



334 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

dalen. The skull, it is said, has still a small fragment 
of flesh adhering where Christ touched her forehead. 
Here, too, the kingly couple bestowed a golden 
reliquary for the saint's right arm and founded a 
perpetual Mass. This sad saint of Christ, the 
repentant one, ever had great influence with Rene 
and his royal consort. Not content with listening 
to her sweet voice, — perhaps an imagination, after 
all, — in the streets of Marseilles (as the King himself 
has depicted), in a beauteous retreat near Angers 
he fixed a sweet shrine, La Baumette, or Bausome, 
near Reculee, where he founded a hermitage, " La 
Madeleine de St. Baumette." This was partly in 
honour of " St. Baume," as the Magdalen, the 
patroness of Provence was familiarly called. In the 
chapel the King painted a picture of St. Bernardin 
hearing confession — perhaps his own. 

If Rene had lost the crown of Naples, another 
crown was shortly laid at his feet. In 1469 the 
Grand Council of Barcelona rejected Juan II. as 
King of Catalonia. He was brother of Alfonso V., 
Rene's rival and conqueror in Naples, but unpopular 
and blind, and somewhat unready. His wife, the 
courageous Queen Blanche of Navarre, had taken 
his place in line of battle, and was enthusiastically 
beloved by the Catalonians ; she died, unhappily, in 
146 8, of a cancer or of poison, so it was rumoured, 
and with her died the love of Juan's subjects. The 
vacant throne was offered with one accord to King 
Rene of Sicily- Anjou, the son of the beloved and 
venerated Princess Yolanda, — who had been brought 
up at Barcelona, — the only child of old King Juan I. 
Rene, in accepting the graceful tribute to his dear 
mother's claim and person, placed his son Jean de 





« g 



mtiwmi i*m*mwm 




JEHANNE DE LAVAL 335 

Calabria in the hands of the Catalonians, and begged 
them, — his own age being far advanced, and his son in 
his prime and a famous warrior, — to proclaim him in 
his stead. Jean was acclaimed generally, and hastened 
to Barcelona to assume his crown, being backed by 
Louis XI. with a money subsidy and a strong force of 
men. The landing of the new King was a scene of 
uproarious rejoicing. His princely qualities appealed 
to them, and his grandmother had been their own 
Princess. People struggled to embrace his knees 
as he rode to the castle ; they kissed the harness of 
his charger, and ladies tossed valuable rings and 
jewellery with their flowers and their kisses sweet. 

Alas for the joys of nations and of individuals ! 
when things are rosiest, and all tend to good and 
peace and prosperity, there swoops down the insa- 
tiable mower with his scythe, to garner what men can 
least well spare. King Juan III. of Catalonia and 
Calabria had not been installed in the kingdom of 
his grandmother more than one short year, when he 
fell ill of plague or poison, — the two fellest foes to 
Sovereigns then, — and died at Barcelona on Decem- 
ber 13, 1470. He had fought for his father's 
cause and his own right nobly in Italy, defeating 
Ferdinand d'Aragon, Alfonso's son, at Sarno in 
1460, but, beaten at Troia, he fled to Ischia. 

The Castle of Beaufort was built upon a lofty rock 
rising above the Loire, overlooking the whole of that 
fertile and lovely valley ; from its battlements both 
Angers and Saumur were visible. King Rene pur- 
chased it and its estate in 1469 for 30,000 gold 
crowns, and assigned it as part of Queen Jehanne's 
fortune. After the King's death and burial, and 

when she had taken a sad and affectionate farewell 

22 



336 RENE D^NJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

of her devoted people in Provence, the royal widow 
settled down in this attractive residence, and there 
spent the residue of her life. The Comptes contain many 
items for building materials, decoration, and furniture, 
showing King Rene's anxiety to make his dear wife's 
bijou residence a very real pleasaunce for her. 

Rene indeed was a master-builder, not merely in 
the way of a hobby, but practically and in many 
places. He studied the works of Leon Battista 
Alberti and other famous architects, and entertained 
and employed numbers of Italian sculptors. Pietro 
da Milano was one of these ; he was engaged princi- 
pally in Barrois, and there added the duties of 
director of revels to his other artistic occupations. 
Marble busts of Rene and Jehanne, of Queen 
Margaret of England and her unhappy son Edward, 
Prince of Wales, of Ferri de Vaudemont and Yolande, 
with their young son Rene, and many others, found 
expression under Pietro's skilful chisel. In the 
" Farce des Pastoureaux" acted at the Palace of 
Bar-le-Duc in August, 1463, King Rene provided 
costly dresses for his clever little namesake grandson, 
then twelve years old, and for the rest of the juvenile 
cast ; these were made by Noel Bontault, after 
Pietro da Milano's designs. The King and his 
Court were then in residence at the Castle of Louppy, 
which he had repaired along with the castles of 
Clermont en Argonne, de Koeurs, and Bonconville, 
and where he received and comforted his miserable 
daughter, the heroic consort of Henry VI. Queen 
Jehanne's ministrations to the forlorn Queen were 
tenderly rendered and gratefully received. She is 
credited with the characteristically graceful acts of 
reclothing the fugitive, and according to Queen 



JEHANNE DE LAVAL 337 

Margaret precedence and homage. King Rene's 
handiwork in all these enterprises was varied and 
extensive. He painted the windows, he carved 
the escutcheons of arms, and he fashioned the 
hinges and locks of the doors. The Comptes 
prove by very many entries his royal excellence as a 
craftsman as well as an artist. Scarcely a church in 
Barrois, Lorraine, Anjou, and Provence, but bore 
evidence of the kingly artistry. Perhaps his two 
specialities were glass working and decorating, and 
wool and silk weaving and embroidery. 

One of the most admirable works of the King and 
Queen, — for Jehanne was not only the amanuensis of 
her husband, but his inspirer also, — was the concep- 
tion and the elaboration of the procession of the 
" Fete Dieu " and " Les Jeux de la Tarasque." This 
pageant originated in the mind of Rene when, as a 
youth, he witnessed with emotion in 1427, at Bar-le- 
Duc, " La Mystere de la Passion," under the direction 
of Conrad Bayer, Bishop of Metz. Thirty years of 
war and travel did not banish the impression the 
young Christian warrior gained, and from time to 
time in Anjou and elsewhere he composed rondeaux, 
ballades, and chansons, in a masque or mystery which 
he called " Le Roy Avenir." In 1474 the King and 
Queen assisted at Aix at the first rendition of " Les 
Jeux de la Fete Dieu." This was preceded by " La 
Procession du Sacre" — the Procession of the Sacred 
Host. All the clergy, nobles, troubadours, pretty 
women, and gallant knights, of Provence assisted, and 
all the trade corporations took part. Everybody in 
the procession carried upon the tip of a white wand 
a piece of pain beni. Each section of the cortege 
was a moving spectacle or pageant. The first section, 



338 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

by acclamation, exhibited " Lon Grand Juee dels 
Diables " — the Grand Play of the Devils. The devils 
were black and red and green, and every youth's 
ambition was to figure as a Prince of Darkness ; 
indeed, in later times a young fellow based his claim 
to be a devil on the fact that his father and all his 
ancestors had been devils, so " cest pourquoi ne le 
serrais je pas !" 

To " the Devils " succeeded " the Magi," " the 
Innocents of Bethlehem," " the Apostles," " the 
Queen of Sheba and Solomon/' and other tableaux 
movants from Scriptural sources. Most amusing were 
" The Play of the Jews," represented by human cats 
— a reference to the features characteristic of the 
race ; " Les Chevaux fringants," hobby - horses 
played by four - and - twenty children, dressed as 
knights of the " Lists "; a masque of morris-dancers. 
The two last spectacles were lugubrious : " The Com- 
pany of Lepers " and " The March of Death." 

The revels filled five whole days in and out of 
church, through and through the streets and squares, 
and out into the open pleasure-grounds. Prizes were 
awarded, honours bestowed, and profits made, and 
everybody was the better for the prodigality of " le 
bon Roy " and the graciousness of " la bonne Royne." 

Rene had been in early life remarkable for his 
simple tastes and abstemiousness in food and drink, 
and Queen Isabelle was equally careful in personal 
matters. Their lives were passed in strenuous times 
when self-denial required great sacrifices of individual 
indulgences. Isabelle was a soldier's wife, Jehanne 
the consort of a statesman when life's battle had 
given way to the ease of peace. Both were attractive 
women, few their superiors, but Isabelle's hand was 



JEHANNE DE LAVAL 339 

upon the hilt of the sword and the snaffle of the 
charger. Jehanne's held the mirror of fashion and 
the goblet of pleasure. After Rene and Jehanne 
had arranged their domestic settlement in Provence, 
at once their Court became noted for its magnificent 
hospitality. Rene employed the first master-cook of 
the day, Maestro Guillaume Real, as his Master of 
the Household. People nicknamed him u Courgon," 
as marshal of the courses of a banquet, rather than 
"Soupgon," the secret of each ! The royal repasts were 
arranged as spectacles ; at the cross high table were 
placed the hosts and guests of honour, and at tables 
down the hall other guests were accommodated. The 
walls were hung with silver and crystal sconces full 
of torches or tapers, and the trophies of war and the 
chase belonging to the house were there displayed. 
The covers and the service were as rich and costly 
as could be. Gold, enamels, crystals, rare faience, 
and other art treasures, were used with lavish 
taste. 

Each course was proclaimed heraldically by blasts 
of horns and motets from the music gallery. The 
high table was served by knights and men of rank, 
who bore the splendid bowls and dishes upon napery 
of cloth of gold. The richer viands were enclosed in 
golden caskets, and the keys offered to the guests, 
who in turn unlocked them and took or refused their 
contents. Some of the confections have not their 
parallel to-day. One table, for example, was made to 
represent a stag-hunt, another a village revel, one 
a castle with a moat of rare vintage, another an 
abbey church with bells pealing and hidden children 
singing. Small animals and birds, and actually grow- 
ing trees and flowers, were used. The roast and 



340 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

the dessert were the pieces de resistance; each was 
carried up the hall in gay procession with much 
ceremonious bowing, and guarded by archers of the 
guard in gorgeous liveries. At the sight of any very 
splendid and appealing course the whole lordly 
company were wont to burst out into song — a well- 
known and lengthy chanson ; it was called " Le 
Sauve-garde de ma Vie." 

Over the anticlimax of the feast the kindly 
chroniclers usually draw a discreet veil, for warriors 
in the field were vanquished in the hall, and beauties 
beloved in the boudoir were forgotten in the debauch. 
We may suppose rightfully, however, that the 
hospitalities of Rene and Jehanne never caused a 
flush of shame or a prick of scorn. They aimed at 
and happily succeeded in proving that " it ny pas au 
nionde de royaute comparable au bonheur d'etre aime 
d'elle," as the King prettily termed it. 

For twenty-five years the simple delights of a 
useful domestic life were serenely enjoyed by the happy 
King and Queen. Their spirit of contentedness 
hallowed the homes of their people, and Provence 
became a paradise of peace. Certainly the want of 
children caused Jehanne many a pang, but the 
devotion of a good husband, one so accomplished, so 
unselfish, and so universally beloved, was a real 
compensation, and she had learned the lesson of 
mingled weal and woe. She found congenial occupa- 
tion in furthering the good intentions of the King 
and in ministering to all in need around her. She 
had, nevertheless, quasi-maternal cares, for in the 
palace at Aix and in other royal residences were 
several children and young people of both sexes, 
besides the three acknowledged bastards by conven- 



JEHANNE DE LAVAL 341 

tion, who could lay claim to royal parentage. Some 
of these are mentioned in Les Comptes as receiving 
alimony and gifts from Rene. An entry on July 8, 
1466, records the gift to Demoiselle Odille of a 
pelisse of marten fur. She was then somewhere about 
twenty years of age, but had charge of the King's 
rings and jewellery under the eye of Sieur Guillaume 
de Remerville, the Treasurer of the Household. 
Rene had married her, in 1460, to Gaspare Spinola, 
a Genoese attendant in his train, who died in 1465, 
leaving his child- widow to the care of her father. 
Another child is also named, Helene, — " la petite 
Helene," as Rene called her, — an attractive little 
creature, " singing like a lark and dancing like a 
gazelle," who died on her fifteenth birthday, in the 
year 1469. The King liked to have her near him 
at meal-times, when he fondled her affectionately, 
" comme ma vraie fille" 

Besides these family cares, Queen Jehanne devoted 
much of her time to feminine industries. In the 
convents, in the workshops, in the fields, were poor 
girls and women needing assistance and encourage- 
ment. The example of "good Queen Yolande " was 
ever before her eyes, and she strove to make herself 
not only mistress of their hearts, but of their 
occupations. Spinning, weaving, embroidering, and 
generally all needlework, found her an accomplished 
executant. She, too, could use her brush and palette, 
in miniature and in large, and her chisel and mallet 
both in wood and stone, and she was a very excellent 
artificer in gold and silver work. Her benefactions 
were on the most liberal and most catholic scale ; no 
good cause was overlooked, and when she came to 
make her will, paragraph after paragraph was taken 



342 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

up by bequests to charitable institutions and to 
cherished needy individuals. If less devout than 
her sister-in-law, Queen Marie, and less religiously 
exercised, Queen Jehanne was a model daughter of 
the Church, and none recognized this more com- 
pletely than His Holiness the Pope, who bestowed 
upon her the precious decoration of the Golden 
Rose, " for virtue as a spouse and benevolence as 
a Queen." 

Approaching her jubilee, — an anxious period for 
many women, — the good Queen fell away in health, 
and appeared to be sickening for her end. Poison 
was hinted at, but in all probability she suffered, not 
from poison designedly administered, but from the 
poison of the atmosphere, laden time out of mind, 
in those low-lying lands near the mouths of the 
Rhine, with the seeds of disease — the dreaded plague 
and black-death. 

Happily, Jehanne was able, through her robust 
constitution and abstemious way of life, to throw off 
the evil effects of her malady ; but no sooner had she 
regained her accustomed vigour than a crushing sorrow 
came to her — the mortal illness of her cherished 
spouse, King Rene. His was a green old age, with 
his venerable but erect figure and his winning if 
somewhat melancholy expression. His blue eyes and 
gracious aspect drew forth confidence all round, and 
his gentle voice and genial manners excited true 
affection. Dressed almost with monkish severity in 
a great long coat of black silk or velvet, with a heavy 
collar and revers of brown squirrel fur, and wearing a 
girdle with a crucifix and beads, his long white hair 
was capped by a simple velvet berretta, and he 
displayed neither jewels nor decorations, only his 



JEHANNE DE LAVAL 343 

Sovereign's badge and chain of gold. He was a typical 
father of his people. 

Struck down mysteriously one day at Mass in the 
Cathedral of Aix by a stalking epidemic, — he had not 
spared himself in visits of condolence to the stricken 
and bereaved, — in the springtide of 1480, the King 
was borne tenderly to the palace. No more tender 
nurse could there be than his devoted consort. She 
took her station at once at his bedside, and, laying her 
head upon his pillow, she cheered and solaced him as 
none other could ; only did she rouse herself for 
needful ablutions, for food, and for the saying of the 
" Hours " in the oratory. With her was a little 
maiden, Rene's grandchild Marguerite, thirteen years 
of age, Yolande de Vaudemont's daughter, a great 
pet of Queen Jehanne. The child had the sweetest 
of sweet voices, — a quality very precious in the 
estimation of the King, — and she soothed his suffer- 
ings and refreshed his weaknesses by childish songs 
and minstrelsy, whilst she stroked his withered hands 
and in them placed her own. 

At dawn of day, July 10, amid the rustling of the 
summer foliage outside the wide-open windows of the 
palace, came whisperings from the sick-room — soft, 
low, and sad : " Le bon Roy est mort /" It was gently 
told to the weeping Queen by the royal physicians, but 
her Ladies of Honour in the anteroom caught the 
ominous news besides. They stole outside the heavy 
arras and told the terrible secret to the valets and 
men-at-arms ; then it flashed out through the galleries 
and across the courtyards, and stayed the janitors of 
the gates as they prepared to open them as usual for 
the new day's life. " Le bon Roy est mort /" soon was 
echoed through the city streets, and tears and prot- 



344 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

estations of affection and tender souvenirs of regret 
found full utterance. " Le bon Roy is mort /" was 
like the knell of doom. No one could realize it or 
prophesy. 

III. 

No one has told us of Queen Jehanne's sorrow — 
better so. No stranger ever shares a full heart's 
loss. Broken, but submissive and self-sustained, her 
consort's fortitude in distress had come to her as well ; 
she failed not at the moment of her trial. With her 
own hands she led the last offices of reverent duty to 
the dead. Shrouded in a simple white linen shift, 
but covered with the crimson and ermine mantle of 
state, they laid their deceased Sovereign upon the 
canopied bed of Estate, moved to the centre of the 
great hall. The Queen herself had closed his eyes, 
and now she arranged his hands. In them she placed 
a costly ruby cross he had given her at her marriage ; 
at his feet she laid the " Livre des Heures," which 
was also his nuptial gift ; and then she placed around 
his neck the Sovereign's jewel, — there was no heir to 
wear it, alas ! — and last of all she knelt and sprinkled 
holy water on his corpse. 

Every door and window was set wide ajar that, 
night or day, all might see and pray and bless. Dusk 
fell on that long, long day, but the crowd of loving 
servants and subjects still surged along reverently to 
pay their last respects ; and so night fell and passed, 
not in the peaceful hush of slumber, but with 
smothered tread of painful feet and the smothered 
sob of woe. 

All Aix was hung in black, and on July 14 the 



JEHANNE DE LAVAL 345 

streets were lined by weeping citizens as the funeral 
cortege of " le bon Roy " passed to the Cathedral of 
St. Sauveur. The burial casket, after the requiem 
and Court ceremonies, was placed, not in a tomb 
direct, but in a chapelle ardente, and watches of 
religious mounted guard and prayed. Soon the wish 
of their venerated Sovereign was made public prop- 
erty, and then, amid fresh lamentations lest Aix 
should lose his remains, appeals were made to Queen 
Jehanne. She was deeply affected, but remained 
quiet and resigned. She could not reverse her 
husband's will, but she could allow his body to 
remain awhile where it was. With this the authori- 
ties had to be content, and forthwith, to strengthen 
their hold upon that sacred casket, steps were 
taken to erect a splendid monument and tomb. An 
embassy was sent off at once to Rome to ask for a 
" Bull " whereby the late Sovereign's directions as to 
the place of sepulture might be laid aside. Aix was 
not so much jealous of Angers as she was devoted to 
her King. 

In accordance with the marital customs of the 
time, King Rene had a mistress — perhaps more than 
one, but one at least whose name has been pre- 
served by chroniclers, Marie de la Chapelle, a respect- 
able middle-class woman of Provence. Whether " de 
la Chapelle " was a sobriquet or not is not clear ; 
probably it was so, and given her later on in life 
after the artist King had painted her wearing a 
chapelle, or black velvet hood, in a diptych, wherein 
he faces her, which he kept secretly in his own 
studio. It is said that she did not really love Rene, 
but liked to rule him and to direct the royal house- 
hold. She was exigeant, too, for the legitimatizing 



346 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

of the three children she bore the King, whom Rene 
had always duly acknowledged as his. These were 
Jean, " le Bdtard d' Angers," created, after the 
premature death of Prince Louis, Marquis de Pont- 
a-Mousson and Seigneur of St. Cannot ; Blanche ; and 
Madeleine. Jean married Isabelle, daughter of Ray- 
mond de Glandevez, Ambassador to the Pope, pro- 
Governor of Genoa, and Grand Master of France. 
Blanche d'Anjou married Bertrand de Beauvau, 
Seigneur de Precigny, Master of the Court of Angers 
and Seneschal of Anjou. He was in 1462 appointed 
President of Provence. His father was Seigneur de 
Rochette. Rene gave his daughter the estate of 
Mirabeau in Poitou, which he purchased in 1488. 
In the Comptes du Roy Rene is the record of a 
gift to Blanche of a gold mirror worth 20 ecus d'or, 
under date January 12, 1488, and the same year, on 
March 18, she received a large table diamond from 
her father, which unfortunately she lost when playing 
in a farce before the Court on the following Jour de 
I 'An. The precious bauble was found by a monk, 
Alfonso de la Rocque, Prior of the monastery of Les 
Anges d'Aix, and restored on payment of a tun of red 
wine. The discovery was only made known, it 
appears, through the confessional ; the good friar 
had qualms about not making known his find. This 
Blanche d'Anjou was educated at Beaucaire by Demoi- 
selle Collette, a worker in furs, who received many 
costly gifts from King Rene. It has been sought to 
prove that Marie de la Chapelle was this Demoiselle 
Collette. Among the King's gift were homely objects, 
too. His Comptes, under April 4, 1447, record 
" three Cannes of fine holland cloth ; two ditto fine 
muslin, and five black silk velvet for a head-dress." 



JEHANNE DE LAVAL 347 

Another gift to Blanche d' Anjou, on May 16, 1447, 
was hair for a rigotter, a coiffure 'posticlie for which the 
King paid 7 florins to Marguerite, wife of Jehan 
Augier, at Beaucaire. Again Blanche was the 
recipient of her father's generosity, for on June 7 
the same year he gave her a cincture of wrought 
silver which cost 1 1 florins. 

Before Blanche married the Seigneur de Precigny 
he had buried three wives, and he himself was buried 
with them at Angers in October, 1474. She died 
prematurely in giving birth to a child, April 1 1 , 
1470, no more than twenty-one years of age. Made- 
leine, Rene's second illegitimate daughter, married 
Louis Jehan, Seigneur de Belleneve, Chamberlain to 
Charles VIII. of France when Dauphin. He gave 
him for his marriage 15,000 florins, that he might 
" espouse worthily ma cousine," as he calls her. 
Louis XII. gave her on her widowhood a sum of 
12,000 florins. 

On the death of King Rene, his eldest daughter, 
Yolande, Countess ofVaudemont, claimed and assumed 
the title of Queen of Sicily, Jerusalem, Naples, and 
Aragon, but took no steps to enforce her claim upon 
that vulture monarch, Louis XL, who at once seized 
upon the lands of his uncle, and styled himself Duke 
of Anjou and Count of Provence. Countess Yolande 
was her father's child, tender and retiring. She 
craved the charms of the quiet life, and consequently, 
at the convocation of the Estates of Anjou and 
Provence, she renounced her title, and made it over 
to her son Rene. He had already taken up the 
gauntlet of his grandfather, and given proof of the 
sterling qualities of his ancestry. The duchy of 
Lorraine and that of Bar were his through his 



348 RENE DANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

mother also, and as Duke of Lorraine Rene II. is 
known to historians. Countess Yolande died at 
Nancy February 21, 1483. Rene II. was the 
Prince whom his father, Ferri de Vaudemont, insisted 
should make a pilgrimage from Vezelay, — famous in 
the history of Thomas a Becket, — the capital of Le 
Morvan, to Jerusalem with one foot booted, the other 
bare, and, as he went, to distribute to every poor 
person he met 12 livres by way of satisfaction for 
small sums he himself had borrowed and had not paid 
back- — surely a wide stretch of fatherly authority and 
the law of substitution ! 

The widowed Queen lost little time in settling her 
affairs in Provence, for she was minded to go to 
Anjou with her precious dead ; indeed, Rene had 
expressed a wish to that effect. She carefully sur- 
veyed the names of all the people Rene loved and of 
those who loved him most nearly too. To each and 
all some token was sent or given ; she spared few 
things for herself. Churches, institutions, schools, 
guilds, and all public bodies, received mementoes of 
the dead monarch. To Jehanne came many pangs at 
parting. She had learned to love the gentle Pro- 
vencals, and they had not failed to return her regard 
most warmly. At last her preparations were com- 
pleted, and she spent a day and night in the cathedral 
by the casket of her dear dead, and then sorrowfully 
she took her journey to distant Anjou, home to her 
kith and kin. 

King Rene in his will speaks thus of his beloved 
Queen : " Because Jehanne has loved me, so I do 
and shall love her as my dearest wife till death. Her 
virtues and her goodness to me I cannot forget, nor 
her loving services which she has rendered me for so 




RENE D ANJOU 
{Circa 1470) 

Painted by himself on wood. Aix Library 



To face page 34S 



JEHANNE DE LAVAL 349 

Jong a time. I will that she shall have unrestricted 
liberty of action to settle, when I am dead, where she 
will. ... I give to her the county of Beaufort ; the 
castle and estate of Mirabeau ; the town of Aubagne ; 
the castles of San Bemy, Pertuis, and Les Baux, 
with my bastides in and about Aix and at Marseilles, 
with all their furniture and appurtenances." King 
Bene also specially bequeathed to Jehanne his most 
valuable jewels : collars of diamonds ; " le grand et le 
petit biday," rubies, with sprays of gold and gems ; # 
his diamonds " a la cesse" uncut and strung (?) ; his 
plates and caskets of gold ; his great bowls of gold ; 
his great trays of silver ; and his precious goblet and 
ewer of gold encrusted with jewels ; and many other 
splendid precious objects. 

With respect to the body of King Bene, it has 
been chronicled that the Queen before leaving Aix 
made secret arrangements for its translation to 
Angers. She feared a hostile demonstration if open 
measures were taken. _^ She took into her confidence 
a priest belonging to the cathedral chapter, and they 
together worked out a plan which was put into 
operation after Queen Jehanne had arrived at 
Angers. She sent two of her most trusty atten- 
dants, Jehan de Pastis and Jacquemain de Mahiers, 
with an imposing suite, conveying a letter to the 
Archbishop of Aix asking for the heart of Bene. 
The priestly confidant was at the service of the 
envoys, and they very cleverly contrived to secrete 
the casket with the King's body in a royal chariot 
which the Queen had commanded to be laden with 
certain dresses and properties she had left behind, and 

* " Le grand bulay" was a famous ruby, richly mounted, which he 
had bought for 18,000 florins ( = £7,000). 



350 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

in particular the pall she had worked with her own 
hand, and which was still covering the dead King's 
coffin. The precious burden was driven to a secluded 
backwater of the Rhone, and there embarked upon a 
great royal barge ; and so King Rene's body passed 
through France once more, as he had so often done 
in life. The disembarkment of the royal corpse was 
effected at Ponts-de-Ce, across the Loire, a few miles 
out of Angers, and thence the second obsequies were 
conducted with splendid ceremonies and amid universal 
tokens of joy and sorrow of his Angevine subjects. 
The heart was with the body, but the entrails were 
left at Aix in the cathedral. 

This was the last public appearance of Queen 
Jehanne. She retired to her Castle of Beaufort, and 
there she spent the residue of her life, eighteen long 
and solitary years — years never idle, never self- 
indulgent, years loyal to the fond memory of her 
spouse, years yearning for reunion. The day Jehanne 
entered her new home was St. Luke's festival, 1481, 
the second summer of the year, when the last grapes 
hang ripened upon the vines, and the year's vintage 
is gathered in. Perhaps the simile from Nature 
enforced itself upon the widowed Queen's sympathetic 
mind. Her harvest was now that of the quiet eye ; 
its growth had been when eye met eye — hers and 
Rene's ; now was approaching the winter of her life, 
when her work was to be finished and her rest full- 
garnered. 

Jehanne chose as the companions of her widow- 
hood three trusty servitors — Rene de Breslay, her 
Seneschal ; Thibault de Cosse, her Master of the 
Household ; and Bernard de Praneas, her Confessor. 
She spent her time in prayer and charity. She 



JEHANNE DE LAVAL 351 

established hostels for poor people, for pilgrims and 
the sick ; schools for children left orphans, and for 
those cast upon the world by miserable parents. 
Besides these pious works, the good Queen preserved 
her interest in such arts and crafts as she and Rene 
had encouraged in Provence. She studied once more 
books and sciences he had loved, she painted 
miniatures, composed madrigals and hymns, and sang 
and played as she had done for him, and her pen 
became that of the ready writer. She translated 
Guillaume de Guillerville's tragedy, " The Pilgrimage 
of Human Life "; " The Soul separated from the 
Body," a poem by Jehan Galoppez, a priest of 
Angers and her Private Secretary ; and a moraliza- 
tion upon " The Certainty of Paradise." All her 
works were, however, in prose, which, she said 
" conserves le sens et les images, mais de'liverez moi 
du martelage et des grimaces de ce baragouin /"'* 

Perhaps the action which most endeared the 
memory of the good Queen to the hearts and minds 
of the people about her was the extraordinary pains 
she took to alleviate taxation and to readjust tribute. 
When Rene took over the estate in 1471, he made 
vast reductions in the imposts on land and stock 
and crop. These were confirmed by Queen Jehanne 
ten years later, and further reductions were conceded 
Her plea to herself was : " Now Rene* is no more, I 
have no other role to play but to do as he would have 
wished me." The Forest of Beaufort, where Rene 
and she had followed the chase in princely fashion, 
now no longer echoed the blast of hunting-horns and 

* "Preserve the sense and the shape, but protect me from forced 
metaphor and gibberish !" 

23 



352 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

the cracks of hunting-whips, but with the gentle 
notes of the Angelus, and when the curfews rang out in 
neighbouring village and homestead, they carried 
with them the refrain, " Priez pour la bonne 
Jehanne." 

These soft nocturnes and sweet visions of ancient 
days still linger in Anjou. The memory of the 
Queen of Sicily, Jehanne, is cherished, and almost 
a proverb it has become, that all good things done in 
that rich province are due to the watchful spirit 
of the Queen. In this connection a very weird 
narrative may be told. In 1469 Guillaume de 
Harancourt, Bishop of Verdun, invented a cage of 
wood and iron for refractory criminals. One such 
was sent to Angers, which after Jehanne's death 
became known as the " cage of the Queen of Sicily." 
It was said that Jehanne had been put therein 
wearing wooden sabots. The why and wherefore of 
her incarceration was perfectly uncertain, but the 
sabots are to-day in Angers Museum ; the cage has 
disappeared. Another version has it that King 
Rene had among his wild creatures at Reculee and 
elsewhere a very ferocious eagle which he could not 
tame, and so the bird was sent to Angers and placed 
in the Bishop's wood and iron cage, and dubbed 
" La Reine" — "The Queen"! This bird of prey 
deserved the name ; its appetite was prodigious. In 
Les Comptes, among other entries referring to 
"her Majesty," is — "June 3, 1474, 'La Reine' 
has a whole sheep day by day." This is quaint 
indeed, but characteristic of stories and story- 
tellers ! 

Queen Jehanne died at the Castle of Beaufort, 



JEHANNE DE LAVAL 353 

December 19, 1498, — as the chroniclers tell us, — 
" in the odour of sanctity and with all the consola- 
tions of Holy Church." 

The Queen's will — a most lengthy document — 
contains many affecting and many quaint bequests. 
She first of all commends herself conventionally to 
the Almighty, and then goes on to indicate her desire 
to be laid not far from " Marie of blessed memory " — 
her consort's grandmother, Marie de Blois-Chatillon 
— " before the altar where is laid my lord and 
consort," and she warns all and sundry against 
laying any other bodies there. Her heart she 
bequeaths to the Chapel of St. Bernardin, within 
the Church of the Cordeliers at Angers, to be placed 
beside that of Rene. She directs that her body 
shall be covered with a pall of black silk, and that at 
her funeral six poor religious should attend habited 
in black, and each bearing a flaming torch. Her 
heart and Rene's should repose upon a pall of cloth 
of gold embroidered in crimson, and bearing their 
joined shields of arms. Lights shall always burn in 
front of the tomb and the cardial reliquary. She 
instructs her brother and nephew, Seigneurs de la 
Roche and de Montafiland, to hand over to the 
Chapter of St. Maurice in Angers 200 livres 
tournois (circa £120) to pay for her burial cortege, 
and for Mass, absolutions, vespers, and bells. Par- 
ticularly she notes her preference for flags of bougran 
— stuff (?) — over silken banners. 

The day after her interment the Queen directs 
that with reverent ritual a crown shall be placed 
over her head like that she placed over Rene's, upon 
their monument. Certain saintly relics which he 



354 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

and she had been the means of rescuing from sacrilege, 
and had deposited in the Church of St. Tugal de 
Laval, shall be displayed gratuitously to " such dames 
comtesses as may wish to become mothers." Her 
" Breviary," " Psalter," " Hours," and other books 
of devotion, she bequeaths to the Church of St. 
Tugal de Laval, for the use of daughters of her 
father's house at their marriage or when residing 
in Laval. Two gold rings she particularly desires 
to be placed upon the relics of St. Nicholas d' Angers, 
within his reliquary : " one, my wedding-ring, which 
my very redoubtable lord and consort, — whom God 
absolve, — placed upon my finger at our nuptials, 
with a small heart of diamonds and enamelled with 
deep red roses." The other ring had a large diamond 
mounted on a fleur-de-lis, and the band bore the 
enamelled arms of Anjou. Queen Jehanne did not 
forget her friends and attendants ; for example, 
among very many legacies, she left 200 livres tournois 
each to three ladies : Jacqueline de Puy du Jour, 
Catherine Beaufilz, and " ma petite " Gindine de 
la Jaille, to provide them with trousseaux upon 
marriage. 

The body of the Queen was reverently shrouded 
in a plain linen chemise, such as that with which she 
herself had assisted to cover King Rene's corpse, and 
over it was placed his robe of state. Hers was the 
last lying in state of a Queen of Sicily, and every 
mark of homage and respect was rendered her 
remains by high and low. Peasants and citizens 
conspired together to show their grateful sense of 
her virtues and her benefactions, and the country 
road from Beaufort to Angers was lined with sym- 



JEHANNE DE LAVAL 355 

pathetic crowds of mourners. Her passing was in 
the night time, — so consonant with her love of 
seclusion and simplicity, — and the whole country- 
side was ablaze with torches and bonfires. The 
Queen's burial was at St. Maurice's Cathedral, in 
the tomb of her consort ; whilst her heart, — " so full 
of love and so tenderly beloved," — in a golden casket 
exactly like that of the King, was placed next his in 
the Chapel of St. Bernardin. Upon a memorial 
tablet was inscribed the epitaph : " Here lies the 
Heart of the very high and puissant Princess, 
Jehanne de Laval, second wife of King Rene', and 
daughter of Gruy, Count de Laval." 

The monument to King Rene, which she at last 
came to share in blessed memory, had his effigy 
reclining, and at his feet a sculptured lion, symbol 
of courage ; at Jehanne's feet were carved two 
hounds, emblematic of fidelity. The Chapel of 
St. Bernardin thus became the royal mausoleum of 
the last Anjou dynast}? - — Rene, with his father and 
mother, his two wives, his eldest son, and his two 
daughters, in holy company ; and so they remained 
for 300 years, until that cataclysmatic year 1793, 
when every holy stone was tumbled down and every 
reverent memorial defaced. The memorial chapel 
was for centuries a thing of beauty. King Rene 
himself painted the glass windows and designed the 
tomb. Soon after his marriage with Jehanne de 
Laval he employed Francesco Laurana and Pietro da 
Milano to decorate the chapel. 

Soon after the death of King Rene, Sieur Guillaume 
de Remerville, — his Treasurer at Aix, — voiced the 
universal sorrow and permanent regret of all the 



356 RENti D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

royal servants of his lord in a beautiful funeral ode, 
which he dedicated to " Queen Jehanne, his wor- 
shipful mistress " : 

" Pleurez, petits et grands I Pleurez ! 
Car perdu avez le bon Sire. 
Jamais ne le recouverierez — 
Sa mart sera grief martyir." * 

Such was the refrain. The same loving dirge of 
woe was re-echoed through Anjou and Provence 
when Jehanne passed royally to her burial. 

* " Weep little, weep great, weep all ! 
For we have lost our good Lord. 
Ne'er more his form to recall — 
Hearts broken by his mord," 




king rene's sicinature. 



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357 



358 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 

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"Anecdotes des Reines de France." Paris, 1785. 
" Musee des Monuments Francais." A.Lenoir. 5 vols. Paris. 
"Le Moyen Age." P. La Croix. 5 vols. Paris, 1848. 

III. Periodicals. 

" Bibliotheque Nationale" — "Album des Portraits." 

" Revue Historique et Archeologique du Maine et Loire." Vol. vi. 

" Revue dAnjou." Vol. xv. 

" Revue Historique dAngers." Vol. xviii. 

" Revue Numismatique dAnjou." Vol. i. 

" Bulletin Societe Industrielle dAngers." Vol. x. 

"Memoires de la Societe Agriculturelle dAngers." 1850, 1866, 

1872. 
"Bulletin Mensuel de la Societe dArcheologie Lorraine." Vol. j. 
" Dictionnaire Biographique de Maine et Loire." Vol. i. 
"Documents Historiques de l'Ecole des Chartes." 1873. 
"Recherches Historiques sur lAngers." Vols. i. and ii. 
"Recherches Historiques sur le Saumur." Vols. i. and ii. 
" Archivio Storico Lombardo." 1894. 
" Joyeuses Histoires de nos Peres." Paris, 1891, etc. 
" Revue Historique et Archeologique du Maine." Vols. xv. and xvi 
" Reunion des Societes des Beaux Arts." Vols. v. and xxxii. 

IV. In English. 

"History of Louis XI." P. Mathieu. London, 1814. 

" Romantic Episodes of France." H.Vance. Dublin, 1868. 

" Old Provence." J.A.Cooke. 2 vols. London, 1905. 

" Troubadours and Courts of Love." J. F. Rowbotham. London, 

1895. 
"Troubadours at Home." J. H. Smith. 2 vols. London, 1899. 
"Life and Times of Margaret of Anjou." M. A. Bookham. 

London, 1872. 
"Lives of the Queens of England." A. Strickland. Vol. i. 

London, 1864. 
"Close of Middle Ages." R. Lodge. London, 1908. 
"Life of Joan dArc." Lord Mahon. London, 1876. 
"Paston Letters" (1422-1509). 4 vols. Reprint, 1901. 



INDEX 



"A Henry ! A Henry !" 296, 298 
Alagui, Lucrezia d', 251 
Alliance, A great, 262 [352 

Animals and birds, Love of, 213, 214, 
Anjou, Anne of (daughter of King 
Rene), 141 
,, Blanche of (natural daughter 

of King Louis II.), 68 
,, Blanche of (natural daughter 
of King Rene), 68, 254, 267 
,, Charles, Duke of (brother of 
King Charles VI. of France, 
the elder Anjou line), 24, 25 
„ Charles of, Duke of Maine I. 
(brother of King Rene), 24, 
57, 86, 87, 92, 93. 307 
„ Charles of, Duke of Maine II. 
(son of above), 57, 165, 328, 
329 
„ Foulkes-Nerra, Count of, 92 
„ Helene of, " La Petite " (natural 
daughter of King Rene ?), 341 
„ Isabelle of (daughter of King 

Rene), 141 
„ Jean of (sonofKingRene), Duke 
of Calabria and Lorraine, 
King of Catalonia, 85, 90. 91, 
104, 108, 113, 114, 124, 127, 
134, 140, 244-254, 264, 270, 
279, 280, 291 
Jean of (natural son of King 

Rene), 254 
Louis I., King-Duke of, see 

Kings 
Louis II., 

Kings 
Louis III. 

Kings 
Louis de Maine of (natural son 

of King Louis II.), 68 
Madeleine of (natural daughter 

of King Rene), 254 
Margaret of (daughter of King 

Rene), see Queens 
Nicholas of (son of King Rene), 

85, 141, 254-258, 328 
Odille, of "La Demoiselle " 
(natural daughter of King 
Rene?), 341 
Rene, King Duke of, 17-356 
Rene of (son of King Rene), 141 
Yolande of (sister of King 
Rene"), see Brittany 
„ Yolande of (daughter of King 
Rene), see Vaudeniont 
Architects : Leon Battista Alberti, 



King-Duke of, see 
King-Duke of, see 



20, 236 ; Francesco Brunellesco, 20 ; 
Giovanni Capistrani, 340 ; Cennino 
Cennini, 20 
Armagnac, Mahaud d', 34, 38 
„ Three Graces of, 260 

Banquet, A sumptuous, 129, 211 
Bar, Bonne of, wife of Nicholas de 
Ligne, 34, 80 
Edouard of, 34, 69 
Frederic, Count of, 32 
Henry IV., Count of, 32 
Iolande of Flanders, Countess of, 

32-34 
Jehan of, 34, 69 
Louis, Cardinal of, 69, 77-81,86, 

98-103. 162, 191 
Marie of France, Duchess of, 32, 

34, 49, 69, 80 
Robert I., Duke of, 32, 69, 78 
Violante (Yolanda), see Queens 
Barragana, A, 30 
Bare breasts, 56, 186, 188, 262 
Bare feet, A Duchess's, 97 
Battles : Azincourt, 34, 64, 69, 96 ; 
Arienzo, 20, 130, 131 ; Bauge, 82 ; 
Bulgneville, 88, 109-115, 130, 192, 
238, 256 ; Gaeta, 241 ; Montpiloir, 
168 ; Rocca-Secca, 219 ; Rosebach, 
96 ; Sarno, 335 ; Troia (I.), 250 ; 
Troia (II.), 252, 335. Wars of the 
Roses : Barnet, 297 ; BloreheaMi, 
282 ; Hexham, 287 ; Northampton, 
282 ; St. Albans, 281, 284 ; Towton, 
285 ; Wakefield, 280 
Beaufort, Cardinal, 261, 262, 264, 275 
Beauty, A village, 83, 147 [Sorel 

" Belles, La Belle des," see Agnes 
" Better die right out !" 297 
" Bloody Edward," 298, 304 
Blushing maids, 45 
Bois Chenus, Le, 144, 173, 190 
" Bourges, The little Queen of," 174 
"Bourges, The little King of," 188, 

279 
"Box her ears !" 147, 198 
Bride burnt to death, A, 88 
Brittany, Arthur de Richemont of, 
126, 133, 207 
„ Charles, Duke of, 127, 185 

„ Francis, Duke of, 286 

„ Francis, Count of Mont- 

fort, 86 
„ Isabelle of, 72, 88 

„ Jean VI., Duke of, 71, 88, 

116, 207, 307 



359 



860 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 



Brittany, Yolande of Anjou, Coun- 
tess of Montfort, 86 
Burgundy, Catherine of, 62, 70, 71, 
76, 79 
,, I sa belle of Portugal, 

Duchess of, 65, 126 
„ Jean, Duke of, 62, 70, 71, 

91, 99, 182-184 
,, Philippe, Duke of, 25, 

96, 102, 108, 111, 113, 
115, 116, 120, 126. 127, 
138, 159, 163, 184, 236, 
243-254, 258-260, 288- 
290, 329 
Burlesque, A royal, 289 

Castles : Aix, 19, 333, 340 ; Amboise, 
294, 295 ; Angers, 19, 43, 44, 51, 
60, 67, 72, 169, 191, 258, 293, 295, 
309, 331 ; Auray, 307 ; Aversa, 227 ; 
Bar-le-Duc, 88, 103, 254, 291 ; Bas- 
tile, 183 ; Bauge, 82 ; Beaufort, 335, 
350, 352 ; Bisclin, 40 ; Blois, 179 ; 
Bonconville, 336 ; Bourges, 64, 165, 
181, 192, 201, 215; Bourmont, 81, 
113 ; Bracon (Tour- de Bar), 112, 
119, 120, 138, 192, 193, 238, 242, 
249 ; Breaute, 196, 197 ; Capua, 232, 
257 ; Castel Nuovo, 232 ; Chatille, 
113 ; Charrnes, 113 ; Chateaudun, 
182 ; Chinon, 134, 154, 160, 189, 194, 
201,214, 253, 261,286, 309; Cler- 
mont, 113, 139, 173, 259, 336 ; 
Coucy, 88, 95 ; Dampiere, 304 ; 
dell' Ovo, 222 ; Dourdans, 177 ; For- 
calquier, 76 ; Gaeta, 245 ; Gerona, 
46 ; Gien, 192 ; Harlech, 283 ; 
Koeurs, 336 ; Kuerere, 291 ; La 
Ferte, 81 ; Launay-les-Saumur, 318 ; 
Laval, 307 ; Les Baux, 320, 321, 
348 ; Loches, 170, 171, 181, 199, 
201 ; Louppy, 336 ; Marseilles, 19, 
333 ; Maulevrier, 196 ; Mehun-sur- 
Yevre, 63, 184, 214 ; Mesnil-la-Belle, 
198; Middleham, 292 ; Montpellier, 
45 ; Muro, 217 ; Nancy, 19, 95, 106, 
109, 114, 133, 134, 149, 150, 254, 
265 ; Nantes, 270 ; Nesle, 177 ; 
Pertuis, 349 ; Pierrepoint, 103 ; 
Plessis-les-Tours, 203 ; Pont-a-Mous- 
son, 253 ; Queniez, 304 ; Reculee, 
19, 214, 302, 303, 334, 352 ; Renan- 
court, 81 ; Renne, 259 ; Sarry-le- 
CMteau, 313 ; Saumur, 19, 91, 136, 
185, 258, 261, 296, 309 ; St. Mihiel, 
101 ; St. Pol, 289 ; San Remy, 349 ; 
Talant, 110 ; Tarascon, 19, 50, 
134, 137, 256, 258, 333 ; Toulouse, 
44, 57 ; Tourg, 101 ; Tours, 201, 
203, 211 ; Troyes, 184 ; Val-de- 
Cassel, 34 ; Varennes, 259 ; Vienne, 
254 ; Zaragoza, 31 



Cathedral, A magnificent, 163-168 
"Cell, Fit for a," 279 
Champion of champions, 265, 312 
Chapelle, Marie de la, 21, 345, 346 
Chatelaines, 54, 59, 139,180, 181,196, 

320, 329 
Chemises, 195 

Child marriages, 94 [245, 246 

Claimants for a throne, 41, 42, 62, 63, 
Coffin, Golden hair in a, 321 
" Comptes de Roy Rene, Les," 28, 29, 

60, 182, 213, 266, 331, 336, 337, 346 
Conclave, A sacred, 157 
" Confrererie de la Passion, La," 256 
" Conquete de la Doulce Mercy, La," 

23 324-326 
Cooking, Art of, 53, 211, 339 
Coronations, Royal, 41-43, 165-168, 

237, 274, 275 
Correcte, Friar Thomas, 186-188 
Country life, Joys of a, 318, 321, 322, 

340 
Court, A frivolous, 190 
"Courts of Love," 35, 37, 42, 320 
Courtiers, see Nobles 
Craftsmen: Colin d'Angers, 302; 

Juan d'Arragona, 27 ; Jehan Buturt, 

60 ; Frangois Castargis, 267 ; Jehan 

Ducceux, 60 ; Julien Guillot, 60 ; 

Henri Henniquin, 27 ; Jehan le 

Gracieux, 27 ; Jehan de Nicholas, 

27 ; Guillaume le Pelletier, 27 ; 

Guillaume de la Planchette, 266 ; 

Luigi Rabbotino, 27 ; Guillaume 

Real (chef), 339 ; Jean Tubande, 271 
Craftswomen : Marguerite Chamber- 

layne, 273 ; Demoiselle Collette, 

346 ; Jehanne Despert, 27 
Cry, A piteous, 173 
Cupid's ways, 87, 140, 310 
" Curse on life ! A," 313, 314 

Dame de Courrages, La, 180, 181 

Dancing fool, A, 251 

Dare-devils, 221-223 

Day, An ill-omened, 296 

Delicacies, 48, 53 

"Devils at home," 315 

Devils and hobby-horses, 338 

Disguise, A royal, 34, 47 

Divorce, A royal, 218, 219 

Dowries, Royal, 49, 70, 76, 114, 127, 

196, 198, 218, 259, 317, 346, 347 
Dress, A reformer of, 186-189 
Dresses, Gorgeous, 233, 234, 266, 267, 

311 

Elopement, A royal, 138, 139 
Emperors : Charlemagne, 282, 307 ; 
Lothair, 95 ; Otto III., 32 ; Robert 
III., 95 ; Sigismund, 118, 119, 253 ; 
Wenceslas. 212 
Erotic ascendancy, 197 



INDEX 



361 



Farewell, A sad, 269 

Fashions, 48, 49, 55, 56, 67, 186, 187, 
194, 195, 202, 267 

Favourites, Royal : Pandolfo Alopo, 
222, 223 ; Sergiarmi Caracciolo, 223, 
228-231, 237, 238 ; Sforza da Colig- 
nola, 222, 223, 228-232 ; Bartolom- 
meo Colleoni, 224 ; Braccio Forte- 
braccio, 229-232 

Feast of Folly, 37 

Fete Dieu at Aix, La, 337, 338 

Fete des Fous, La, 210 

Fetes and sports, see Merrymakings 

Fierbois, The sword of, 154, 160, 166 

Flagellations, 181 

Foix, Cardinal de, 317 

Foul deed, A, 298 

Foul-play, 182-184, 205, 206, 218 

Gardens : Lovely Tarascon, 50 ; Bar- 

le-Duc, 80 ; Aversa, 234, 235 ; Les 

Baux, 320, 321 
Garters, Chained, 267 
"Gaya Ciencia, La," 31, 36, 37, 46, 53 
Genoa, Maiden offering at, 314 
Girls, Character of, 45 ; tribute of, 

128 
"Give me Rene d'Anjou !" 143 
Glee-maidens, 31, 35, 256, 274 
Glory of France, Everything for the, 

200 
Golden Rose, The, 119 
" Grey wolf of Anjou, The," 304 
Grotto, Voices in a, 235 

Hard-heads, 36 

Hairdressing, 49, 67, 148, 164, 187, 

194, 195, 202, 204, 261, 266, 267, 

268, 311 
Hair in a coffin, Golden, 321 
Harvest of a quiet eye, 350 
Heart, A pierced, 290 
Herring, Only one, 290 
Highwaymen, 33, 132 
" Hold your tongue !" 230 
Honour, Dames and Maids of, 186, 222, 

226, 234, 264 
" Hope of England, The," 298 
Horsewoman, A splendid, 150, 151 
Hostages, Royal, 113-116, 120 

Jacques d'Arc, 143, 144, 167 

Jeanne d'Arc, "La Pucelle," 83-87, 
143-173, 189-192, 236, 253 

" Jeanne soit bonne," 145 

Jehanne de Laval, see Queens 

Jehanne the Inspirer, 330 

Jewels, 35, 43, 49, 56, 80, 128, 196, 
202, 203, 234, 247, 266-268, 275, 276, 
289, 309, 315, 335, 346, 349, 354 

Jews, 240 

Joke, A royal, 61 



Kings: 

Alfonso, "The Magnanimous," of 

Aragon-Sicily-Naples, 75, 117, 

124, 126, 128, 130, 224, 225, 227- 

235, 241-258, 280, 334 

Andrew of Hungary, 217, 246 

Charles IV., "The Fair," of France, 

177 
Charles V. of France, 82 
Charles VI. of France, 40, 44, 55, 

63-65, 68, 179-181, 193, 209, 265, 
276, 308 
Charles VII. of France, 63-65, 81-85, 
88, 91, 109-111, 117, 126, 132, 154- 
199, 200-215, 236, 239, 251-254, 

260-264, 269-279, 331 
Charles VIII. of France, 294, 347 
Charles II. of Naples, 333 
Charles III. of Naples, 216, 217, 220 
Edward IV. of England, 281-286 

292-304 
Ferdinand of Aragon, 221, 227 
Ferdinand I. of Naples, 252, 335 
Henry IV. of England, 295 
Henry V. of England, 56, 65, 72, 

181, 184 
Henry VI. of England, 138, 260-263, 

272-304, 363 
Henry II. of France, 196 
Iago II. of Aragon, 36 
James III. of Scotland, 285, 290 
Jean II., "The Good," of France, 29, 

32, 44, 65, 67, 73, 80, 127 
Juan I. of Aragon, 32-49, 334 
Juan II. of Aragon-Catalonia, 334 
Juan III. of Aragon-Catalonia, see 

Jean d'Anjou 
Ladislaus of Naples, 216-220 [176 
Louis IX. (St. Louis) of France, 51, 
Louis XI. of France, 85, 175, 197- 

205, 214, 232, 264, 286-296, 300- 

304, 326, 335, 347 
Louis I. of Sicily-Anjou, 29, 39-44, 

58, 73, 118 
Louis II. of Sicily-Anjou, 29, 39, 40- 

46, 55-67, 73, 85, 93, 99, 174-176, 

207, 217-219, 332 
Louis III. of Sicily-Anjou, 57-64, 

68-76, 82-89, 117, 121, 165-169, 

185-188, 212, 225-246, 320 
Martino of Aragon-Sicily, 30, 42, 

62 
Rene of Sicily-Anjou-Naples, 17-356 
Robert of Naples, 217 
Philip V., "The Tall," of France, 

177 
King, A libertine, 218 ; meagre fare 
of a, 182 ; Most Valiant (?), 195 ; 
skit on a, 201 
Kisses, 47. 52. 75, 137, 152, 195, 201, 
208, 209, 226, 255, 257, 269, 335 



rene D'ANJOU and his seven queens 



"L'Abuze en Court." 24, 327, 328 
" Lady of his thoughts, The," 310 
Lady of the Crest, 306, 310, 311 
" La Frari9aise, " 275, 279, 280 
"La Royne Blanche," 85, 112, 161, 

166, 173 
Laval, Francoise de Dinan, Countess 
of, 308 
„ Guy XIII., Count of, 68, 87, 
135-137, 162. 170, 307-312, 
316, 317, 355 
Guy XIV., Count of, 307 
,, Isabelle of Brittany, Countess 

of, 307 
,, Jehanne of, see Queens 
„ Pierre of, 307, 309, 317 
„ Yolande of, 307 
"Le Bon Roy," 318, 321, 322, 324, 

326, 332, 338, 343 
Legends: Notre Dame de Sousterre, 
35 ; St. Catherine les Baux, 320, 
321 ; St. Frisette de Reims, 164 ; 
St. Martha of Bethany, 50, 51, 
333 ; St. Maximin d'Aix, 333 ; St. 
Radegunde de Tours, 157 ; St. Re- 
natus d'Angers, 59, 60 
Leonora, Fair, 225, 231-235 
" Le Sauve-garde de ma Vie," 340 
Les Batjx, Alix, Countess of, 319 

,, Cecile of, "La Passe Rose," 

320 
Douce of, 320 
^tiennette of, 320 
Jehanne of, 319 
Raimond, Count of, 320 
Robert Beaufort, Count of, 
"Le Fleau de Provence," 
319 
" Les Tards- Venus," 319 
Library, A famous, 120 
"Ligue de Quatre, La," 73 
Likeness in a lance, A, 331 
" Like Queen Giovanna !" 217 
Lioness at bay, Like a, 303 
Lorraine, Adelebert, Duke of, 95 
„ Charles II., Duke of, 88, 

95, 96, 98-104, 121, 143, 
148-151, 163, 171, 244, 
245 
,, Isabelle of, see Queens 

,, Jehan, Count of, 95 

„ Marga:ret of Bavaria, 

Duchess of, 95-100, 104. 
105, 110-115, 118, 121, 
148-153, 254 [95 

, , Marie of, Dame de Soissons, 

„ Raoul, Duke of, 105 

„ Rene II., Duke of, 336, 

347, 348 [156 

„ The Pride of, 94, 98, 151, 

Love of all the boys, 257 



Love, Courts of : Bar le Due, 35 ; 
Zaragoza, 37 ; Barcelona, 42 ; Les 
Baux, 320 
Love, The Chamber of, 320 
Love Lady-Day, 281, 282 
Loves of Louis and Yolanda, 46 
„ Charles and Agnes, 192-200 
„ Charles Dunois and Marie 

d'Anjou, 208, 209 
„ Louis and Leonora, 225-235 
Love's rosebush, 97 

"Magali," 330 

Maiden tribute, 316 

Maids of Honour, 186, 222, 226, 234, 

264 
Maignelais, Antoinette de, 193, 198 

,, Catherine de, 193 

Malady, A terrible, 276 
Margaret d'Anjou, see Queens 
Margaret, Truce of, 281 
Marguerites, 268, 271, 274 
"Mariage, Quinze Joyes de," 77 
Marriage ring torn off, 219 
Martyrdom, A royal, 172, 173 
Matchmaking, 35, 39, 64, 65, 70-73, 

76, 86-88, 91, 127, 218, 220, 256, 

257, 259, 293, 294 
Matrimonial pros and cons, 99, 100 
Matrons, A panel of, 83, 157, 158, 191 
Mermaid, A Sicilian, 226 
"MerrieMol, Une," 289 
Merrymakings, 31, 35-37, 46, 48, 50-54, 

61, 72, 91, 104, 134, 135, 139, 234, 

256, 265, 338 
Millionaires, Royal, 58, 62, 182, 212 
Montereau, Derouillee de, 206 
"Mortifiement de Vaine Plaisance, 

Le," 23, 317 
Mottoes: "Amour et foy" (Isabelle 

de Lorraine), 142; "Ardent desir" 

(King Rene), 134; "Fides vitat 

servata" (King Rene), title-page 
Murder, 222, 223, 298, 299 [338 

Mystery plays, 38, 52, 265, 274, 337, 

Natural children, 30, 68, 196, 220, 227, 

252 
Nobles and Courtiers : 

Agout, Raymond d', 44, 45 

Aigle, Jean, Lord de 1', 60 

Amboise, Louis d', 206 

Andrews, William (Private Secretary 
to Henry VI.), 268 

Avellino, Robert, Count of, 245 

Barbazan, Armand, 109, 158, 162, 168 

Baudricourt, Robert de, 147, 148 

Beauvais, Pierre de, 68 

Beauvau, Bertrand de, Lord of 
Precigny, 267, 346, 347 

Beauvau, Louis ds, 20, 26, 137, 312, 
317 



INDEX 



363 



Nobles (continued) : 
Beaupremont, Pierre de, 258 
BelleNeve, Louis Jehan, Lord of, 347 
Biege, Pierre de, 68 
Breze, Jacques de, Count of Maule- 

vrier, 196 
Brege, Louis de, 196 
Breze - , Pierre de, 287, 288 
Breslay, Rene de, 350 
Cabarus, Vidal di, 244 
Capua, Andrea di, 219 
Champchevier, Jules, 261 
Charantais, Jehan, 225 
Charny, Adolphe de, 258 
Chatel, Tanneguy de, 20, 182, 184 
Clifford, Lord, 283, 284 
Cceur, Jacques, 182, 212 
Coetivi, Olivier de, 196 
Cosse, Thibault de, 350 
Couldray, Lord of, 316 
Courrages, Lord of, 180, 181 
Coyrant, Yovunet, 61 
Crepi, Jehan, 76 
Dunois, Count Charles (le Batard 

d'Orleans), 159, 161, 168, 207-211 
Escose, Jean d', 274 
Falstaff, Sir John, 261 
Fenestranger, Jehan de, 125 
Flavy, Guillaume de, 81 
Fortesque, Sir John, 292 
Gaudet, Antoine de, 258 
Gris, Jehan de, 180 
Harancourt, Gerard de, 125 
Harancourt, Jacques de, 125 
Herault, Alain le, 28 
La Hire, 159, 161, 168, 182 
Lenoncourt, Philippe de, 30 
Lodal, Guy de, 87 
Louvet, Etienne, 207 
Luxembourg, Jehan de, 78 
Macon, Robert de, 83 
Mahiers, Jacquemain de, 349 
Maignelais, Raoul de, 193 
Mailly, Hardouin de, 186 
Mattaneourt, Jehan de, 81 
Maulevrier, Jacques Odon de, 186 
Metz, Jehan de, 148 
Mezieres, Louis de Maine, Lord of, 68 
Montague, Lord, 284 
Montelar, Charles di, Baron, 244 
Moraens, Francois de la Vignolles de, 

304, 305 
Morien, Jehan de, 44, 45 
Oxford, Earl of, 293 
Pastis, Jehan de, 349 
Pulligny, Hugues de, 32 
Remeville, Guillaume de, 355 
Roche, Philippe de Pot, de la, 288 
Roches, Guillaume Chesal des, 60 
Ruthen, Lord Guy de, 282 
St. Aubin, Pierre, Abbe de, 60 



Nobles (continued) : 

Salisbury, Earl of, 281. 282, 284 
Sancerre, Antoine de Benil, Count of, 

196 
Sarrebouche, Robert de, 78 
Serancourt, Jehan de, 28 
Somerset, Duke of, 279,281, 287, 297 
Sorel, Jehan de, 193 
Suffolk, Earl of, 132, 138, 262, 264, 

270 
Toreglia, Giovanni di, 251 
Toulongeon, Antoine de, 109, 110 
Tremouille, Pierre de, 158, 161, 168, 

207 
Valorey, Barthelemy de, 68 
Valorey, Gabriel de, 68 
Villeroquier, Andre de, 198 
Warwick, Earl of, 281-284, 292-297 
Wenlock, Lord, 297 
Westmoreland, Earl of, 295 
Xantrailles, Pothon de, 207 
Nuptials, Royal, 41, 48, 49, 81, 86, 87, 
91, 101, 123, 138, 179, 181. 204, 217, 

218, 221, 256, 264, 272, 273, 295, 317 

Obsequies, Royal, 40, 41, 57, 58, 66, 67, 
68, 72, 92, 121, 122, 132, 135, 214, 

219, 241, 258, 300, 314, 315, 344, 
345, 349, 354 

Ode, A funeral, 356 

"Oh fie! Oh fie!" 262 

Orders : of the Sturgeon, 26 ; of the 

Plough, 26 ; de la Fidelite, 79 ; 

Toison d'Or, 115 ; du Croissant, 

136 ; Golden Rose, 119, 342 
Oriflamme, " The Maid's " white, 153, 

167, 169 

Pack of cards, A famous, 212 

Pageant of the Peasant, The, 329. 

Painters : Fra Angelico, 20 ; Petrus 
Christus, 79 ; Hubert Van Eyck, 19, 
20, 79 ; Jan Van Eyck, 19, 20, 79 ; 
Jean Focquet, 19 ; Colantonio del 
Fiore, 20 ; Angiolo Franco, 20 ; Hans 
of Antwerp, 260 ; Fra Filippo Lippi, 
20 ; Jehannot le Flament, 19, 312 ; 
Antonio Solario (" II Zingaro "), 20, 
242 ; Paulo Uccello, 20 

Pastoral, A royal, 322 

Payments, Quaint, 271-273 

Peach, Bite a, 206 

Pilgrimage, A warlike, 159-161 

Plot, A royal, 231 

" Plucking the turkey," 36 

Poison, 89, 205, 206, 218, 313, 342 

" Polluyon," Ceremony of the, 105 

Poniard, A jewelled, 238 ; a stealthy, 
320 

Popes: 

Benedict XIII., 69 ; Boniface IX., 
219 ; Clement VII., 40 ; Eugenius 



364 RENE D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 



IV., 125, 130, 250 ; John XXIII., 
80 ; Martin V., 229 ; Nicholas V., 
332; Sixtus IV., 25 

Porta, Giovanni de la (King Rene's 
confessor), 332 

Poverty, Royal, 181, 182 

Presents, Extraordinary, 273, 274 ; 
splendid, 186, 346, 347 

Preux chevaliers, 87, 96, 236, 287, 314 

Prince, An ugly, 175, 176, 203 

Princes : 

Alencon, Jehan, Count of, 86 

Alencon, Charles, Duke of, 264, 270 

Anjou, see Anjou 

Aragon, Juan of, 221 

Aragon, Pedro of, 124 

Armagnac, Henri, Count of, 183, 260 

Austria, Ladislaus, Archduke of, 

211 
Austria, Leopold III., Duke of, 218 
Austria, William, Duke of, 218 
Baden, James, Marquis of, 96, 107 
Bavaria, Louis of, 109, 123 
Bcir sgg BbiI* 

Bedford, John, Duke of, 161, 169 
Berg, Arnould, Duke of, 77 
Berry, Charles, Duke of, 205, 206 
Bourbon, Charles, Duke of, 91 
Bourbon, Louis, Duke of, 62 
Bourbon, Jacques of, 221, 222 
Brittany, see Brittany 
Brunswick, Otto of, 217 
Burgundy, see Burgundy 
Castile, Ferdinando of, 40, 63 
Charolois, Count of, 289 
Clarence, Duke of, 295 
Foix, Gaston de, Count, 211 
Gaunt, John of, 295 
Gravina, Charles Durazzo, Count of, 

217 
Gloucester, Humphrey, Duke of, 262, 

274, 275, 277, 279 
Lorraine, see Lorraine 
Luxembourg, Henri, Count of, 27 
Luxembourg, John, Duke of, 171 
Luxembourg, Pierre of, 256, 259, 265 
Marche, Robert, Count de la, 259 
Milan, Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke 

of, 241, 250 
Milan, Francesco Sforza, Duke of, 

130, 250, 280 
Montfort, see Brittany 
Nevers, Charles of Bruges, 259, 262, 

309, 312 
Nevers, Philippe, Count of, 259 
Orange, Louis of, 81 
Orsini, Raimondo of, 219 
Savoy, Amadeo VIII., Duke of, 211, 

238 
Taranto, Charles III., Prince of, 176 
Taranto, Jehan de Beaux-Taran to, 176 
Taranto, Lodovico of, 217 



Princes (continued) : 

Vendome, Antoine, Duke of, 62 
Wales, Edward, Prince of, 277-279, 

282-288, 293-300 
Wiirtemberg, Ulric VII., Count of, 

123 
York, Edward, Duke of, 264, 270, 
275-280 
Princesses : 
Anjou, Blanche of, 68, 254, 267 
Anjou, Margaret of, see Queens 
Anjou, Yolande of, Countess of 

Montfort, 86 
Anjou, Yolande of, Countess of Vau- 

demont, see Vaudemont 
Aragon, Juanita of, 30, 35, 38 
Armagnac, Isabelle of, 260 
Austria, Anne, Duchess of, 259 
Baden, Catherine, Marchioness of, 

96 
Bar, Bonne of, 34, 80 
Bar, Marie of France, Duchess of, 32, 

34, 49, 69, 80 
Bar, Violante of, see Queens 
Bavaria, Elizabeth of, 118 
Beaufort, Juanna, of Ghent, 295 
Bourbon, Anne, Duchess of, 289, 290 
Bourbon, Marie of, see Queens 
Brittany, Isabelle of, 72, 85 
Brittany, Yolande, Countess of 

Montfort, 86 
Burgundy, Catherine of, 62,70, 71,76 
France, Catherine of (daughter of 
Charles VII.), 214 
, , Catherine of (natural daugh- 
ter of Charles VII.), 196 
,, Jeanne of (daughter of 
CharlesVII.),173,211,214 
, , Jeanne of (natural daughter 

of Charles VII.), 196 
,, Madeleine of (daughter of 

Charles VII.), 211, 214 
,, Margaret of (natural daugh- 
ter of Charles VII.), 196 
,, Margaret of (daughter of 

King Philippe V.j, 176 
,, Yolande of (daughter of 
Charles VII.), 211, 214 
Harcourt, Marie of, 28 
Laval, Francoise de Dinan, Countess 

of, 308 
Laval, Yolande of, 307 
Les Baux, Alix, Countess of, 319 
Cecile of, 320 
„ Douce of, 320 

,, Etiennette of, 320 
,, Jehanne of, 319 

Lorraine, Isabelle of, see Queens 
Lorraine, Margaret of Bavaria, 

Duchess of, see Lorraine 
Lorraine, Marie of, Dame de Soissons, 
95 



INDEX 



365 



Princesses {continued) : 

Luxembourg, Blanche of, 177 
Luxembourg, Jehaune of, 177 
Marche, Jeanne de la, 259 
Provence, Beatrix, Countess of, 216 
Vaudemont, Anna, Countess of, 125, 

138 
Vaudemont, Margaret of (grand- 
daughter of King Rene), 343 
Vaudemont, Yolande of Anjou, 

Countess of, see Vaudemont 
Wales, Anne Neville, Princess of, 

294-299 
Wiirtemberg, Sophie, Countess of, 95 
" Priez pour la Bonne Jehanne," 352 
Prisoner, A royal, 115, 116 
Progresses, Royal, 33, 40, 44, 46, 47, 
62, 107, 127, 185, 269-271, 274, 296, 
319 

Quatrain, A royal, 179 
Queen : Bath of, 242 ; begs alms, 247 ; 
borrows a farthing, 290 ; bountiful, 
351 ; dances on highway, 33 ; day 
in the life of a, 242 ; Epitaph on a, 
305 ;" great," 93, 141, 143,150, 305 ; 
handiwork of a, 341 ; heroic, 189, 
290 ; intrepid, 253 ; knighted, 285 ; 
last words of, 205 ; leprous, 304 ; 
letters of a, 213, 244 ; noblest of 
France, 215 ; of beauty, 135, 309, 
311 ; of hearts, 42, 195 ; of Queens, 
310 ; of roses, 306 ; prisoner, 232 ; 
robber and, 288 ; speech of a, 185, 
290 ; state entry of Queens, 35, 50, 
81, 103, 105, 106, 202, 257, 274, 317 
Queens : 

Blanche of Navarre-France, 334 
Bonne of Luxembourg-France, 44 
Catherine of Valois-England, 56, 65 
Charlotte of Savoy-France, 214, 286, 

294 
Constance of Clermont-Naples, 218 
Giovanna I. of Naples, 217, 246 
Giovanna II. of Naples, 66, 75, 89, 

116-121, 217-252, 333, 357 
Isabeau of Bavaria-France, 40, 51- 

59, 63-68, 177-186, 190, 206, 216, 

262 
Isabelle of Lorraine - Sicily - Anjou- 

Naplea, 77, 86-88, 90, 91, 94-142, 

166-169, 185, 193, 206, 239-259, 

264, 269-279, 280, 313-318, 338 
Jehanne of Laval-Sicily- Anjou, 135, 

203, 264, 291, 303, 306-356 
Margaret of Anjou - England, 85, 

125, 134-140, 244, 253-305, 310, 

313, 331, 336, 337 
Margaret of Savoy - Sicily - Aujou- 

Naples, 73, 89, 90, 122, 123, 130, 

139, 235, 237, 240-247 [220 

Margaret of Durazzo-Naples, 216- 



Queens (continued) : 

Margaret of Scotland-France, 203, 

205, 313, 314 
Margaret of Denmark-Scotland, 285 
Maria of Lusignan-Naples, 218 

,, of Sicily, 42 
Marie of Anjou-France, 58-64, 68- 
70, 82-85, 90, 91, 139, 158, 165, 
170, 173, 174-215, 236, 261, 264- 
266, 269, 286, 291, 313, 326, 342 
Marie of Chatillon - Sicily - Anjou- 
Naples, 39-41, 45, 47, 57, 58, 353 
Marie of Bourbon - Calabria - Cata- 
lonia, 91, 127, 134, 135, 204 
Marie of Enghien-Naples, 219 [98 
Yolanda of Bar-Aragon, 30, 35-47, 
Yolanda of Aragon - Sicily - Anjou- 
Naples, 30-93, 98-104,112,117-121, 
127, 142, 150, 158-160, 166, 169, 
174-179, 185, 188, 197, 203, 207- 
209, 225, 236, 239, 243-247, 249, 
258, 263, 266, 307, 312, 319, 334, 
341 

Ransom, A King's, 65, 117, 118, 119 
"Regnault et Jehanneton," 23, 322-324 
Relics, 29, 333, 334 
Rene of Anjotj, King, 17-356 ; titles 
of, 17, 101 ; character of, 18, 106 
occupations of, 18, 19, 120 ; painter 
20, 21 ; miniaturist, 21, 22 ' 
writer and poet, 22, 23, 81 ; a 
bosom friend of, 24 ; letters of, 25 
patron of crafts, 26, 27 ; accessi 
bility of, 27 ; generosity of, 28 
devotion to relics, 29 ; his wine 
cup, 29 ; travels of, 20 ; tutors 
77 ; arms, 78 ; marriages of, 101 
317; in prison, 88,110, 112; "La 
Pucelle" and, 149, 150, 151; love 
of nature, 213, 322 ; his heart, 
349 ; signature, 356 
Rings, 49, 137, 219, 272, 335, 354 
"Rose, The Golden," 119, 342 
Roses at Christmas, 306, 316 ; in 
Temple Gardens, 306 ; Queen of, 
306 ; showers of, 226 ; Wars of the, 
279-300 
Royal hussy, A, 257 

"St. Madeleine preaching," 21 

Sand, Writing in, 208, 209 

Sash, Tripped on a, 128 

Scales, The Lady Emma de, 268 

Scapegoat, A, 105 

" Scourge of France, The," 68 

Sculptors : Delia Robbia, 20 ; Pietro 

da Milano, 316 ; Francesco Laurana, 

355 
Second marriage advocated, 316 
"She wolf, The," 299 
Silver swans, 282 



366 REN^ D'ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS 



Sisters, Unfortunate, 177 

Slanders, 84, 156, 191, 206, 207, 241, 

277, 278 
Snails, Horns of, 187 
Sorel, Agnes, 91, 111, 170, 171, 178, 

182, 194-199, 255, 264 
" Soul and Heart," a dialogue, 318 
Stabbed to death, 196, 238 
Stories : A lost diamond, 346 ; a 

pathetic, 313 ; a pretty, 55, 208, 

209 ; a romantic, 225-235 ; a 

tragic, 180, 181 

Tapestries, Rich, 179, 185 
Taxes, Queen Yolande's, 76 
Tempests at sea, 271, 287, 296 
The "Cokke Johnne," 271 
Theatre, The French, 265 
" This is Queen Margaret !" 299 
Three Graces of Armagnac, 260 
Toast, A popular, 164 
"Too much blood !" 131 
Tournaments, 135, 136, 139, 265, 308- 

312, 315, 329 
Tournament prizes, 311, 312 
Tower, In the, 283, 290, 296, 299 
'' Le Tracte des Tournois, " 24 
Treachery, 282, 287 ; 297, 298 
Tribunal, An imperial, 119 
Tragedy, Stories of, 180, 181, 205, 206 
Troubadours, 31, 34, 35, 37, 46, 153, 

212, 256, 265, 274, 318, 329; 

maxims, 329 ; royal, 34, 97, 268 ; 

Queen of, 36, 42 
Troubadour Laureates : Eustache des 

Champs-Morel, 34 ; Jehan Durant, 

153 ; Guillaume de Poitou, 329 
Troublous times, 58, 59, 62, 64, 65, 

201, 202, 236, 237, 246, 248 
Trousseaux, Royal, 32, 43, 49, 50, 266 
Tutors, Royal : Jan Van Eyck, 19 ; 

Jehan de Proviesey, 77 ; Antoine 

de la Salle, 77, 288 ; Philippe de 

Leoncourt, 125 ; Sir John Fortesque, 

292 

Vaudemont, Anna, Countess of, 125, 

138 

„ Antoine, Count of, 62, 

88, 104, 108, 109, 111- 

113, 119, 120, 138, 149, 

255, 260 

,, Ferri, Count of, 113, 137, 

138, 215, 260, 263, 265, 

292, 303, 312, 328, 348 



Vaudemont, Margaret of (grand- 
daughter of King Rene), 
343 
,, Rene, Duke of Lorraine 

(grandson of King Rene), 
336, 347, 348 
„ Yolande d'Anjou, Coun- 

tess of, 63, 70, 85, 87, 
113. 125, 134, 138, 140, 
244, 254-257, 260, 265, 
291, 292, 347, 348 

Venus di Milo, 48 

Village gossip, 146 

Virago, A royal, 111-114, 124. 130, 
169, 192-200, 261, 275, 280 

Viseonti, see Princes [168 

" Voices," The, 144, 145, 146, 158, 159, 

Volte face, A, 293 

Widow, A girl, 122, 129, 218 

Wife : A blind, 250 ; a stick for a, 

77 ; A much-enduring, 178 ; an 

unfaithful, 180, 181 
Wine, Delicious, 48, 211, 212, 213 
Winecup, A famous, 29 
Witchcraft, 177, 195 
"Woman, Fortune is a," 82; very 

beautiful, 307 ; threats of a, 84 ; 

A gay, 37 ; vampire, 222-227 
Women : Character of, 45 ; of Aries, 

48 ; of Genoa, 128 ; paramount, 

178 ; gay, 159, 200, 206 
Word, A Duke's, 116 
Worldly-wise canons, 200 
Writers and Chroniclers : 

Martial d'Auvergne, 139 

Louis de Beauvau, 26 

Jean Bourdigne, 58 

Philippe de Commines, 204, 314 

Viollet le Due, 163 

Neron, F. Faraglia, 242 

Louis de Grasse, 139 

Pierre de Hurion, 26 

Pierre Mathieu, 18 

Enguerrand de Monstrelet, 187, 188, 
214 

Jehan Pasquerelle, 85 

Etienne Pasquier, 111 

Jehan de Perin, 26 

Antoine de la Salle, 258 

Jean Juvenal des Ursins, 49, 50, 176 

Yolanda d'Arragona, see Queens 
" You may go !" 108 
" You villains !" 132 



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